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VOYAGE OF THE 

DEUTSCHLAND 




© Tut. Film Service 

Captain Pail Konig 

From a photograph taken on the Deutschland 
:M Baltimore 



VOYAGE OF THE 

DEUTSCHLAND 

THE FIRST MERCHANT SUBMARINE 



BY 
CAPTAIN PAUL KONIG 




NEW YOEK 

HEARST'S INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY CO. 

1916 



copyeight, 1916, by 
Hearst's International Library Co., Inc. 

All rights reserved, including the translation into fore-Ian 
languages, including the Scandinavian. 



J151; 




PRINTED IN -THE U. S. A. 



SCHLUETER TTO. CO., NEW YORK 



NOV 25 I9I6 



©CI.A445833 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Introduction ix 

I. How Germany Got the U-Deutsch- 
land, and How the U-Deutschland 

Got Me 1 

II. Trial Trip and Outward Bound . . 12 

III. The First Day at Sea. .... 20 

IV. The U-Boat Trap 35 

V. Head Downwards in the North Sea . 48 

VI. "Westward Ho ! 61 

VII. In the Atlantic 72 

VIII. Hell With the Lid On 109 

IX. America 121 

X. Baltimore 136 

XI. Farewell to Baltimore . . . .160 

XII. Breaking Through 183 

XIII. Homeward Bound 191 

XIV. Home Again 211 

XV. How Germany Welcomed Us Back . 218 

[v] 



„Zum Kampfen und Streiten man rufet Euch nicht, 
Zum friedlichen Handel fiihrt Euch die Pflicht, 
Gliiek auf denn ! Gott mit Euch, er segne die Fahrt, 
Seid wacker und mutig nach echt deutscher Art; 
Dass wieder ihr kehrt in die Heimat zuriick, 
Ganz DeutschlandEuch wiinsehet herzinniglich Gliiek !" 

Heinrich, Prinz von Preussen. 

Herrn Kapitan Konig, 
dem Fuhrer des ersten 

deutschen Handels-U -Bootes 



[vi] 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

PACING PAGE 

Capt. Paul Konig. From a photograph taken on the 
Deutschland at Baltimore . . . . Frontispiece 

Capt. Paul Konig. From a photograph taken in 
Bremen before the war . . 16 

The Deutschland coming up Chesapeake Bay on the 
way to Baltimore 17 

The American manager of the German Ocean Navi- 
gation Co., welcoming Captain Konig on his arrival 
at quarantine, Baltimore . . 32 

Posing for their first American photograph. A por- 
tion of the crew on the stern of the Deutschland 
on its way up Chesapeake Bay 33 

The tug Timmins conveying the Deutschland from 
quarantine to Baltimore . . . . . . 4S 

A three-quarter view from the stern of the Deutsch- 
land as she was warped into her berth at Baltimore 49 

Preparing to dock at Baltimore. An exceptional 
view from the stern showing unique construction. . 64 

The Deutschland docking at Baltimore 65 

Left — Captain Hinsch, of North German Lloyd. Cen- 
ter — Capt. Paul Konig. Bight — Paul G. L. Hilken, 
American Manager German Ocean Navigation 
Company 80 

Ashore at Baltimore after many days at sea. First 
picture of the crew of the Deutschland taken on 
arrival . . 81 

Capt. Paul Konig. Photograph taken in Baltimore 
on arrival of the Deutschland 96 

Paul G. L. Hilken, American Manager, German 
Ocean Navigation Company 97 

A close view of the commanding tower and periscope 
of the Deutschland . . . . 112 

The first autographed photograph in America after 
the arrival of the Deutschland, signed by Captain 
Konig, First Officer Krapohl, and Chief Engineer 
Klees 113 



[vii] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

FACING PAGE 

The last photograph of the Deutschland leaving 
Baltimore. The Deutschland as she appeared pass- 
ing out to sea from Chesapeake Bay . . . . . . 128 

The creators of the Submarine Mercantile Service. 
Director Zetzmann, builder of the merchant sub- 
marine, Deutschland. Alfred Lohmann, founder of 
the German Ocean Navigation Company 129 

Up the Weser to Bremen. The Deutschland receiving 
ovation on its triumphant return to Germany . . 142-143 

A broadside view of the submarine 160 

The Deutschland with all colors set, the German flag 
at her fore-peak, the United States flag aft, ap- 
proaching the mouth of the Weser 161 

The triumphant return to Germany. The Deutschland 
entering the mouth of the Weser 176 

Home at last. The Deutschland alongside its pier 
in Bremen . . 177 

Welcoming the crew of the Deutschland at the City 
Hall in Bremen 192 

Captain Konig and Dr. Alfred Lohmann, President 
of the German Ocean Navigation Company, leav- 
ing reception given Captain Konig in Bremen . . 193 

Celebration at City Hall, Bremen, August 25, 1916. 
The crowd in front numbered many thousands. 
The officers and crew on the balcony acknowledging 
cheers . . 208 

Portrait of officers and crew of Deutschland taken 
on their arrival at the mouth of the Weser, August 
23, 1916 209 

Interior view of the Deutschland. The central con- 
trol or navigating room 224 

The Deutschland on the stocks. Photograph taken 
the day before launching 225 



[ viii ] 



INTRODUCTION 

The mysterious voyage of the mer- 
chant submarine Deutschland has now 
kept the attention of the old and new 
world under strain quite long enough. 
The wildest rumors regarding our trip 
and our fate have cropped up in in- 
numerable papers, not to mention the 
magnificent flights of fiction made by 
the English. We were stranded, we 
were sunk — we had even been taken 
apart and sent in separate packages to 
America. What fun we used to have 
on the high seas when our wireless op- 
erators would catch one of these plump 
English canards in full flight ! I there- 
fore have the greater pleasure in giv- 
[ix] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

ing a longer, more detailed description 
of our legendary voyage and our ad- 
ventures. 

The voyage, after all, was far from 
being a fabulous one — for this would 
have made it doubly precarious. And 
as for adventures, we naturally avoided 
these as far as possible. 

I hope, therefore, that the reader 
will not expect a whole series of excit- 
ing episodes, such as may fall to the 
lot of a military submarine in the war 
area. Our duty was as follows: to 
transport our valuable cargo to Amer- 
ica as smoothly, and with as few inter- 
ruptions as possible, to make a joke of 
the English blockade, and to return 
with a cargo equally valuable. These 
things we accomplished, and I shall 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

now describe how we accomplished 
them. 

That our voyage did not always pro- 
ceed smoothly, that now and then we 
found ourselves in devilish hot water, 
that this or that did not come off ac- 
cording to program — was entirely ow- 
ing to the gentle endeavors of the 
English. The reader owes them thanks 
for these little exciting interludes. The 
English, to be sure, despite all at- 
tempts, were unable to hinder our 
course — still they succeeded in giving 
additional color and variety to my ac- 
count of it. It would be ungracious 
not to acknowledge this. 

I wish to express my special thanks 
to my two officers of the watch, Messrs. 
Krapohl and Eyring. The notes taken 
[xi]' 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

by these two gentlemen completed my 
own on many points. It is impossible 
for a captain to remain continually on 
the turret — I had almost said "bridge" 
from old habit — and then six eyes see 
more than two. And to be able to see 
is one of the first laws of the sub- 
marine. 

Paul Konig. 



[ xii ] 



The Voyage of the Deutschland 



HOW GERMANY GOT THE 

"U-DEUTSCHLAND," AND HOW 

THE "U-DEUTSCHLAND," 

GOT ME 

How did Germany come to build the 
U-Deutscliland f That would be a long 
story. I must leave it to others to re- 
late—to men who are better qualified. 
The most important facts are revealed 
in the speeches which were made upon 
the return of the Deutschland during 
the festivities in honor of this history- 
making event at the Eathaus in Bre- 
men. These may be read in the de- 
scription I give of our reception at the 
close. 

The idea of building submarine 

[i] 



Voyage of the Deutscliland 

cargo-boats for long distance is to me 
an idea growing out of the resolve of 
the German people to nullify the block- 
ade of the German and American 
coasts, as well as the complete cutting- 
off of our legitimate imports. The 
old Hanseatic spirit of enterprise, the 
technical genius of German shipbuild- 
ing, and the efficiency of one of our 
largest shipyards combined to give 
British arrogance upon the seas the 
heaviest blow it has suffered since the 
Union Jack first fluttered over the 
waves. 

It is impossible to forecast to-day 
what changes and revolutions will fol- 
low upon the building and traffic of 
submarine merchant ships. It is pos- 
sible that all the laws of naval warfare 
may be altered. Through this the sum 
and relationship of armed ships may 

[2] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

undergo change throughout the world, 
and this may influence the destiny of 
the nations even more than the present 
war. It would seem that humanity 
stood face to face with a new epoch of 
its history. 

We Germans may well be proud of 
the fact that this epoch has been 
ushered in by a German ship. That 
Canadian war-submarines crossed the 
Atlantic before us cannot alter this 
truth. They traveled in groups, always 
upon the surface, and under escort of 
torpedo-boats, cruisers and auxiliary 
craft. Moreover, they traveled under 
far more favorable conditions than a 
merchant submarine, since they had 
only to carry their provisions and 
munitions and no dead weight apart 
from their armament. They were 
above all able to defend themselves. 

[3] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

On the other hand the sole means of 
defense of a submarine freighter con- 
sists in diving. And even this is not 
everywhere possible with a large vessel 
of over 2,000 tons. 

I was therefore faced by a new and 
extraordinary problem when asked to 
navigate the U -Deutschland to Amer- 
ica. The task would have been almost 
as novel had I been a young patrol- 
boat commander instead of an old 
Lloyd captain, and a navigator of big 
liners. 

But I must first tell you how the 
TJ -Deutschland managed to requisition 
me. Things developed with great swift- 
ness and many surprises. 

I happened to be in Berlin during 
the middle of September, 1915, on some 
business or other. I had been forced 
to surrender my good ship Schleswig 

[4] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

long before, but the North German 
Lloyd knew where it could find me. 
One evening I found a message at my 
hotel. It was from Herr Lohmann, 
of Bremen, who asked me to come and 
see him at the Adlon, in Berlin, as soon 
as possible. 

I was surprised. I knew, of course, 
that Herr Lohmann was the head of 
the well-known Bremen house, and I 
had met him personally in Sydney, 
where his firm had the agency of the 
North German Lloyd. 

But what did Herr Lohmann wish to 
see me for now — now when "German 
shipping had been swept from the 
seas" — as you might read day after 
day in any English paper ? There 
would be certain difficulties in starting 
a new German line of steamers to Aus- 
tralia or the Straits under present con- 

[5] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

ditions. As for the Baltic, I knew that 
his firm had no connections there. 
What could they want with an old East 
Asia — America — and Mediterranean 
sea-dog like myself ? 

Those thoughts went puzzling 
through my head as I made my way 
to the Adlon. 

Herr Lohmann greeted me in the 
most affable manner. He did not beat 
long about the bush. After referring 
to the pleasant days in Sydney, he 
asked me if I was not bored by this 
uneventful sitting about on land ? Was 
I not anxious to be up and off on — a 
long cruise? 

What was an old captain of the 
merchant marine to say to that? — an 
old captain who had to leave his ship 
at the outbreak of war, and was drift- 
ing about the country like a derelict — 

[6] 



Voyage of the JDeutschland 

while the English cruisers were prowl- 
ing about the Canal and the Shet- 
lands and taking the American mails 
from neutral ships at four miles dis- 
tance from New York? 

I shrugged my shoulders and was 
silent. 

Then the secret came out. Herr 
Lohmann now told me that he was en- 
tertaining the idea of running a line of 
submarine merchant ships between Ger- 
many and America. He asked me 
whether I was willing to navigate the 
first of these vessels? The first trip 
would be to Newport News. He knew 
that I had a certain amount of knowl- 
edge regarding the waters and sound- 
ings of Chesapeake Bay, acquired dur- 
ing my trips in the Baltimore service 
of the North German Lloyd. Did I 
think that I would be able to take a 

[7] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

freight "boat of this kind across to 
America — in case the thing really 
came off? 

This was to the point. I have never 
been fond of long deliberations, so I 
promptly said : ' ' Yes ! ' ' 

Here was a chance for an old fellow, 
over 45, to take part in this war of 
" black lists" and daily mail robberies. 

"Herr Lohmann," I said, "if the 
thing really comes off, I am your 
man!" 

And the thing did come off ! 

In less than two months a telegram 
called me to Berlin to an important 
conference. Here I looked at sketches, 
plans and working drawings until my 
eyes swam. Four more months passed 
which I utilized to the full. I then went 
to Kiel and saw a remarkable frame- 
work of steel slowly take shape upon 

[8] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

the stocks across the way at Gaarden. 
Rotund, snug and harmless the thing 
lay there. Inside it were hidden all 
the countless, complicated and power- 
ful features of those sketches and 
working drawings. I cannot boast that 
the reality as executed in steel and 
brass was any easier to grasp than the 
endless network of lines and circles 
which had bewildered me when inspect- 
ing the blue-prints. 

Those of you who have seen illustra- 
tions and photographs of the interior 
of the " central-station" or the "tur- 
ret" of a submarine, will understand 
what I mean. And should you have 
entered a submarine itself and felt 
yourself hopelessly confused by the be- 
wildering chaos of wheels, vents, 
screws, cocks, pipes, conduits, above, 
below and all about — not to speak of 

[9] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

the mysterious levers and weird me- 
chanisms, each of which has some im- 
portant function to fulfil, you may find 
some consolation in the thought that 
my own brains performed a devils' 
dance at the sight. 

But after this monster, with its tan- 
gle of tubes and pipes, had been duly 
christened, and its huge gray-green 
body had slid majestically into the 
water, it suddenly became a ship. It 
swam in its element as though born to 
it — as though it had never known 
another. 

For the first time I trod the tiny 
deck and mounted the turret to the 
navigation platform. From here I 
glanced down and was surprised to see 
beneath me a long, slender craft — with 
gracious lines and dainty contours. 
Only the sides, where the green body 

[10] 



Voyage of the Deutscliland 

vaulted massively above the water, 
gave an indication of the huge size of 
the hull. I felt pride and rapture as 
my eye took in this picture. The 
fabric swayed slightly beneath my feet 
— an impressive combination of power 
and delicacy. 

And now I knew that what had at 
first seemed to me nothing more than 
the product of some mad phantasy on 
the part of the technicians was in 
reality a ship. It was a ship in which 
oceans might be crossed, a real ship, to 
which the heart of an old sailor like 
myself might safely attach itself. 

I laid my hand upon the edge of the 
TJ-Deatschlan&'s turret and pledged 
her my faith. 

And thus I came to the U-Deutsch- 
land and became the commander of the 
first undersea merchant vessel. 

[ii] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 



II 



TRIAL TRIP AND OUTWARD 
BOUND 

We were now in for a strange and 
wonderful time. Day after day we 
went out into the bights and down into 
the depths. We made trial trips in all 
sorts of weather and at every oppor- 
tunity. Every man of our picked crew 
knew of the task we were expected to 
fulfil. 

Our job was to acquire facility in 
steering this fine and complicated craft, 
the last word in bold and subtle com- 
putation. Our job was to learn how to 
understand and control this most mar- 
vellous product of modern shipbuild- 
ing, the submarine. We were obliged to 
learn how to impose our wills upon this 

[12] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

heavy mass of almost 2,000 tons, so that 
it would obey the slightest turn of the 
rudder, and turn and manoeuvre like a 
torpedo-boat, and rise and sink in the 
water like a dirigible in the air. 

It was also necessary to observe the 
strength of the steel body, to test the 
force and obedience of the powerful 
engines, to studjr the imperfections or 
little perversities of the whole, to cap- 
ture the secret of the life and move- 
ment of this weird, mysterious, fish- 
like organism. 

A submarine is as full of moods as 
a woman, and as delicate as a race 
horse. It is as solid as a tramp 
steamer, and as reliable as a tug-boat. 
It may have good qualities — and bad. 
It may be as manageable as a racing 
yacht, or it may buck like a broncho, 
and it will only obey him who knows 

[13] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

it from the beginning to the end of its 
minute mechanism. 

So we spent weeks upon the seas — 
upon and beneath them. We studied 
our boat, and strove to grow acquainted 
with all its possibilities. We were bent 
on mastering all the peculiarities of 
this nautical amphibian. 

After returning from the quiet bays 
and coves, where we carried on our 
practice, to the yards, the smashing 
uproar of the rivetting hammers and 
the ceaseless clamor of the docks, we 
would sit for hours with the construc- 
tors and swap experiences. Many hints 
and valuable suggestions resulted from 
this practical experience, and gave rise 
to new plans and ideas. 

I cannot sufficiently express my 
thanks to these gentlemen — the ship- 
builders who worked hand in hand 

[14] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

with me. They never tired in their 
efforts to assist ns, nor in helping to 
test this wonderful creation of their in- 
ventive genius. On the very day of 
our departure, Chief Engineer Erbach, 
the constructor of the vessel, rowed 
out to our anchorage — in order to 
make one final diving test. 

•K *• #• 

The day of our departure had come. 
The TJ -Deutschland had been loaded. 
The precious cargo lay well packed in 
the freight-chambers. Then the whole 
ship was once more overhauled and 
brought to a perfect trim. We then 
stored enough provisions for this long 
trip; then came boxes of cigars, and 
gramophone plates. 

All our various needs had been pro- 
vided for and the TJ -Deutschland was 
ready to "sail." 

[15] 



Voyage of the Beutschland 

We, too, were ready. Our farewells 
with our loved ones had already taken 
place, thank God — at home. These 
moments, especially when there is to be 
a trip into the unknown, are always 
painful ones, which had best be got 
over as quickly as possible. Our last 
handclasps were with the men of the 
Germania Shipyard. 

Then the gang-plank was drawn in. 
I ordered the men to their stations and 
mounted the turret. The tug-boat 
Charlotte was already alongside and 
picked up the hawser. I called " At- 
tention!" down into the central station 
and lifted my hand. 

The mighty moment had come. 

"Cast away aft!" 

"Aye, aye, sir." 

"Pull away, Charlotte!" 

The bell of the signal dial upon the 

[16] 




© Int. Press Exchange 

( 'm'taix Paul Konig 

From a photograph taken in 
Bremen before the war 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

stout little tug-boat tinkles. The 
sturdy craft pulls the tow-line tight 
and slowly draws the stern of the 
Deutschland away from the wharf. 

"Cast away for'd!" 

"Aye, aye, sir." 

The hawsers flop splashing from the 
pier wall into the grimy, churned-up 
water of the harbor. 

And now it is our turn. I pick up 
the speaking-tube: 

"Larboard engine — half power — re- 
verse!" 

' ' Starboard engine — slow speed 
ahead." 

"Helm 20 points starboard!" 
"Helm 20 starboard!" 

The answers from the engine-room 
came up promptly. 

Prom where I stood upon the tur- 
ret, close beside the helmsman with his 

[17] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

small wheel, I could scarcely feel the 
throb of the electric engines going in- 
to action. Only the dirty water, which 
was cast up by the propellers and went 
wallowing and whirling to sternward 
over the round body of the Deutsch- 
land, betrayed the fact that the engines 
were in operation. 

Slowly the great green whale-back 
swung around and lay at first at right 
angles to the course, drove forward a 
little to larboard, remained still, and 
then pushed itself with the help of the 
tug once more to starboard stern on. 

I ordered both engines to stop. 

The boat still proceeded backwards 
for a piece, tugging fiercely at the tow- 
ing cable like some cumbrous monster 
of the brine. 

I cast a swift glance from the turret 
upon the course and the pier. There 

[18] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

was now enough room to manoeuvre in. 

I ordered the tow-lines to be cast off 
and both engines to drive ahead at half 
speed with helm to larboard. 

We were still turning and made a 
good clearance of the pier wall close to 
a large gray war-submarine which was 
just being completed. I then ordered 
the helm to be put amidships, and both 
engines : 

"Full steam ahead!" 

The bows of the ship began to trem- 
ble in rhythmic vibrations under the in- 
creased pressure from the engines. The 
water came foaming from the propel- 
lers. We were under way and the 
Deutschland began pushing herself fas- 
ter and faster through the dingy waters 
of the port — out of the bay, out toward 
the broad ocean — toward the freedom 
of the seas. 

[19] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 



III 

THE FIRST DAY AT SEA 

The North Sea came rolling toward 
us in long swells. The weather was 
bright and there was a stiff breeze 
Nor '-nor '-west. I stood with the First 
Officer of the Watch in the turret — in 
the " bath-tub." This is what we call- 
ed the protecting wall of metal which 
rose above the navigation platform as 
a kind of parapet and encircled the 
turret manhole in elegant sweeping 
lines. It somewhat resembled the gon- 
dola of an aeroplane. The outer steer- 
ing wheel is situated directly in front 
of this, but can be used only in fair 
weather. 

We were standing in oilskins behind 
the shield, for the sea had just enough 

[20] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

movement to wet everything. The deck 
was continually flooded and every few 
moments the waves went slapping 
against the turret. In my hand I held 
the speaking-tube connection with the 
central station, where the helmsman 
passes on the orders to the engineer by 
means of the signal dial. I stood with 
every sense alert. There was a sound 
of dull thumping, the bows plunged in- 
to the foam, the seas came rumbling a- 
cross the deck and shot hissing up 
against the superstructure of the tur- 
ret. The turret manhole had to be 
flung to instantly and we w r ere forced 
to duck behind the protecting wall in 
our crackling oilskins. These manoeu- 
vers were repeated every few minutes. 
In the intervals w T e rose to a standing 
position, listened to the howling of the 
wind, and gazed at the horizon. The 

[21] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

German coast toward the southeast 
had vanished behind us some time be- 
fore and the only bit of the homeland 
still with us was the accompanying tor- 
pedo-boat which was forging on ahead 
of us. We soon approached the outer- 
most chain of German f oreposts. Four 
patrol vessels passed us in a keel line 
and hoisted the signal : 
"Gliickliche Reise !" (Bon Voyage !) 
Our faithful escort then darted up 
closer to us. Her crew gave us three 
tremendous cheers, her officers stood 
at salute upon her bridge, and we two 
lonely men upon the turret returned 
the salute. Then the black craft struck 
her nose into a sea, made a splendid 
turning and drove off with a whirling 
wake. She grew smaller and smaller 
and then vanished with her fluttering 
pennons of smoke. 

[22] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

We were now left to ourselves. We 
were travelling into the unknown. 

However, there was little time for 
meditation. Danger threatened us from 
all sides. I had to make sure that the 
craft was in the best of trim and that 
the engines and diving arrangements 
were under complete control. 

I gave the order: 

" Clear for a diving test!" 

Instantly the response came back 
from the turret and the central station, 
and the men hurried to their posts. 
The oil engines were still hammering 
away at a mad rate. I left the alarm 
bell clang and jumped into the manhole 
of the turret. The cover was battened 
down, the engines stopped at the same 
moment. 

We felt a slight pressure in our ears 
for a moment. We were cut off from 

[23] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

outside and silence reigned. But this 
silence was merely an illusion — and was 
due to the change. 

"Open the diving- valves. Sub- 
merge ! ' ' 

The valves were flung open and the 
compressed air escaped hissing from 
the tanks. At the same time a gigantic, 
intermittent snorting ensued, like the 
blowing and belching of some prehis- 
toric monster. There was an uncom- 
fortable pressure in our ears, then the 
noise became more regular, followed 
by a buzzing and a shrill hum. All 
the high notes of the engines in the 
central station intermingled and made a 
bewildering noise. It was like a mad, 
diabolical singsong. And yet it was 
almost like silence after the dull, heavy 
pounding of the oil-motors — only more 
insistent and irritating. The penetra- 

[24] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

ting hum in the various vents announ- 
ced the fact that the diving mechanism 
was in operation. It moaned and sang 
lower and lower in the scale of tones. 
These slowly diminishing and steadily 
deepening tones give one the physical 
feeling of mighty volumes of water 
pouring in and flooding full. 

You have the sensation of growing 
heavier and sinking as the boat grows 
heavier and sinks, even though you 
may not be able to see through the 
turret window, or the periscope, how 
the bows are gradually submerged and 
the water climbs higher and higher up 
the turret until all things without are 
wrapped in the eerie twilight of the 
depths. 

The faithful lamps burned, however, 
and then a real silence suddenly en- 
sued. There was no sound but the 

[25] 



Voyage of the BeutscMand 

gentle, trembling rhythm of the electric 
engines. 

I then gave the order : 
" Submerge to twenty meters!" 
"Both engines half steam ahead!" 
I was able to follow our submersion 
by means of the manometer. Through 
flooding the tanks, the boat is given 
several tons over-weight and the en- 
closed ship's space is made heavier 
than the displaced quantity of water. 
The titanic fish, therefore, began to sink 
downward in its element, that is to say, 
it began, in a certain sense, to fall. At 
the same time the electric engines are 
put into motion and the propulsive 
force of the propellers acts upon the 
diving rudders and causes the sinking 
to become a gliding. After the requir- 
ed depth has been reached — something 
which may easily be read from the 

[26] 



Voyage of the Deutsehland 

manometer that records the depth — all 
further sinking may be stopped by 
simply lightening the hull, which is 
done by forcing out some of the water 
in the submarine's tanks. The furious 
growling of the pump is always a sure 
sign that the required depth is being 
approached. The noise ceased, only the 
electric motors continued to purr and 
the word came from the central station : 

" Twenty meters — even keel!" 

"Budder set!" 

So we forged ahead at a depth of 
20 meters. Of course we are " blind" 
under such conditions and can regulate 
our movements only by means of the 
depth recorder and that precious little 
jewel of the boat, our compass. No 
ray of light reached us any longer from 
without, the periscope was submerged 
long ago and the steel safety covers 

[27] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

over the windows were closed. We had 
been metamorphosed completely into 
a fish. 

Reports now came from all parts of 
the U-boat — the central, the engine- 
room, the bow, the stern, the cargo- 
room, the battery-room — all tight. The 
Deutschland might safely proceed 
through the deeps. But it is not al- 
ways so simple a matter to steer a boat 
of this size at a specified depth. A 
change in the specific gravity of water 
in consequence of alterations in the 
temperature of the water or the amount 
of salt influences this greatly. As an 
example let me explain the difference 
between the water of the Baltic and 
that of the North Sea. The specific 
gravity of the two seas is in the rela- 
tion of 1.013 to 1.025. This appears 
trifling. But with a boat of the size of 

[28] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

the Deutschland, which requires over- 
weight of many tons to enable it to 
dive, this difference mounts up to a 
quite formidable weight. In order to 
submerge in the denser water of the 
North Sea, we must make our boat at 
least 17 tons heavier than is necessarv 
in the Baltic — otherwise we cannot 
dive. In addition, the most disagree- 
able surprises are to be expected when- 
ever there are sudden alterations in the 
temperature of the water, as in bays 
and river mouths. These are further 
influenced by the lighter sweet water. 
Many a U-boat commander has been 
misled by thinking that a certain over- 
weight was all that was required to 
take him under water and keep him 
posed at a certain level. . . . Suddenly, 
however, the manometer indicates a 
still greater depth and the submarine 

[29] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

begins to fall like an aeroplane which 
has struck an " air-hole." A test of the 
specific gravity and the temperature of 
the water will usually explain such be- 
havior on the part of the U-boat. Only 
calculations such as these will enable 
the commander of an undersea boat to 
sink into the depths and rise to the sur- 
face with a certain degree of assurance. 

We had now completed our trial dive 
to my satisfaction. Everything was 
safe and in good working order — we 
had excellent control of our complica- 
ted apparatus. 

I then gave the order to rise. The 
diving rudders were slanted "up" and 
soon I was able to observe their action 
and that of our gallant exhaust pump 
by the manometer. 

After I had made sure that there 
were no vibrations from propellers to 

[30] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

be heard in the vicinity and no steamer 
with which one might collide, we mas- 
tered the so-called " blind moment." 
This is the interval during which the 
boat has already risen so high as to 
permit of its being rammed, the while 
it is still too far under water to per- 
mit the use of the periscope above the 
surface to have a look around. 

This interval is very brief. I stood 
at the eye-piece of the tube and stared 
hard. The field of vision grew lighter, 
silver air-bubbles rose glimmering, a 
winking of light and a rilling of water 
flashed athwart the glass, then daylight 
came — a picture appeared. Clear and 
luminous the North Sea lay outspread 
before me into the empty and endless 
horizon. 

I then gave orders to rise to our full 
extent. The planes of the rudders 

[31] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

forced the boat more and more toward 
the surface of the water. In order to 
accelerate this, compressed air was 
forced into one of the tanks. The 
movement was now very rapid, the tur- 
ret cleared itself, the deck lifted itself 
dripping, the manhole in the turret 
was opened and fresh air came stream- 
ing in: 

"Blow out the tanks!" was my next 
order. 

There was a wild howling and hissing 
in the central station. The powerful 
air-blasts were forcing the water out 
of the diving tanks. This takes but a 
short time. As soon as one tank is 
empty, the air which has been blown 
into it comes bubbling up with a gurg- 
ling noise along the sides of the boat 
which soon attains its normal position. 

We were still proceeding under elec- 

[32] 



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£ fly ^3 — » t-~fl 


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•Afi^ 


iB,]^ 1 


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sfgj 




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I 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

trie power. The next step was to 
switch on the heavy Diesel motors by 
means of the electric engines. I had 
already climbed up to the turret and 
so I noticed nothing of this operation, 
except the reports that came to me from 
the central. But on such occasions an 
exciting picture is presented to the men 
in the engine-room. 

The engine observers stand at their 
posts. The order comes through the 
speaking-tube — everybody is rigid with 
attention. Then the Chief Engineer 
gives a shrill whistle and lifts one hand. 
A few swift movements of the trained 
hand — and certain long and blinding 
lightnings flash across the switchboard 
in the electric-motor chamber. The first 
piston-heads lift themselves hesitatingly, 
slowly, unwillingly — then increase their 
speed. Terrific reports and loud hiss- 

s [33] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

ings ensue, and a curious, irregular 
coughing. The roaring of the explo- 
sions then becomes rhythmic and faster 
and faster the engines fall into their 
places and begin to pulsate in a regular 
harmony — like the strokes of innumer- 
able hammers. 

The trial dive was at an end, and 
stamping and pounding, the Deutsch- 
land hurried on her way. The wind 
did not slacken, but the weather re- 
mained fair and observation was easy. 

No steamer hove in sight — so we 
were able to proceed quietly on the sur- 
face. Of course we had the best of 
reasons for navigating with the utmost 
care and attention. Thus the day came 
to an end. 

But when the sun sank in dull and 
threatening clouds, there was a storm 
brewing for the morrow. 

[34] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 



IV 



THE U-BOAT TRAP 

And there was a storm. The farther 
we left the coast behind, the more 
violent grew the sea. Our ship was 
flung and tossed about in great style. 
I was aware of this as I lay in my 
berth. About two o'clock in the morn- 
ing I was awakened by a "Hoo — eel" 
in the speaking-tube in the wall close 
to my head. 

Second Officer of the Watch Eyring 
reported that a white light was visible 
to starboard and was swiftly approach- 
ing. I leaped out of my berth, went 
balancing around the corner into the 
central, then up the ladder, through 
the manhole and on to the platform. 

Eyring pointed out a white light. It 

[35] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

was comparatively close and appeared 
to be coming on at a great rate. We 
decided to take no risks, sounded the 
alarm and dived. It was then that I felt 
for the first time that overwhelming 
sensation of security which arises from 
the possibility of such a rapid mode of 
escape. 

It all seemed most natural. Here we 
were in the very midst of a world-war, 
going on our way with an unarmed 
freight-boat in the dead of night. A 
light draws near — it may be an enemy, 
most probably it is an enemy. In a 
few moments a couple of guns may 
flash forth, a couple of shells smash our 
superstructure, the seas go plunging 
into the inner shell of our craft and 
then the North Sea closes above our 
heads. 

But nothing of this sort happened. 

[36] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

A brief command shot down to the 
central station. A few quick move- 
ments were made with hand-wheels 
or levers and we proceeded on our 
way in absolute safety. Brute 
force may bar our path upon the 
surface of the seas, but it is impotent 
and must let us pass as soon as we 
take our course a few yards under the 
surface. 

For reasons of safety we continued 
to screw our way forward in a sub- 
merged state, and remained under water 
until dawn. We rose to the surface 
about four o'clock. It was already day, 
but unfortunately, there was a mighty 
uncomfortable sea running. We saw 
a few fishing boats in the distance, la- 
boriously toiling away. We kept a 
sharp eye on them, but soon became 
convinced of their harmless character 

[37] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

and so continued our course above 
water. 

This was rough work. The move- 
ments of the submarine were such that 
the heads and stomachs of the men in 
the interior of the boat — which could 
only be ventilated by the fans — began 
to be affected. A part of the crew 
found no charm in the temptations of 
dinner. It was also impossible to re- 
main on deck, since this was constant- 
ly being flooded. It was a trifle dryer 
behind the protecting wall of the 
" bath-tub" and in the lee of the turret, 
protected from the sea and the wind. 
Here a few members of the free watch 
remained huddled. They clutched the 
rails, sniffed up the fresh air, and shook 
themselves whenever a breaker came 
bursting against the turret in an erup- 
tion of foam and spray. 

[38] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

We proceeded thus during the entire 
day. We saw a few steamers in the 
distance — as betrayed by their smoke; 
but these we avoided by a change of 
course above water after carefully get- 
ting their bearings and observing what 
course they were following. 

This is not so difficult as would ap- 
pear. You know your own bearings 
and can obtain those of the other ves- 
sel by triangulation and computing its 
position and course by means of the 
chart. After comparing these details 
with the lines of the chief steamer 
routes as marked in the charts, you 
are able to tell with a fair degree of 
certainty in what direction the steamer 
must be travelling. 

A computation of this sort, as luck 
would have it, happened to prove of the 
greatest importance to us shortly after, 

[39] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

and — as you shall see — it was even in 
the nature of a certain amount of docu- 
mentary evidence. 

Toward evening the weather had 
cleared a little, and even the sea had 
grown quieter. The sun went down 
amidst beautifully illuminated clouds. 

The entire watch had come up to get 
a breath of fresh air and to light up 
a cigar or cigarette. Smoking below 
decks is strictly forbidden. The men 
all crowded closely together, over 
and under each other, against the 
protected side of the turret, hugging 
the steel wall. They made a remark- 
able picture in their rough and heavy 
sea clothes and looked like a swarm of 
bees — a grape-like cluster of tangled 
human forms. Not much etiquette was 
observed to be sure. I let the men do 
as they pleased. Their job was a hard 

[40] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

one down below. When one of them 
wished to stick his head out of the man- 
hole in order to have a few whiffs of 
his pipe, I gladly granted him the brief 
enjoyment. 

All eyes were now engaged in search- 
ing the horizon. This was a good thing, 
for the more eyes there are peeled the 
more the ship sees. Some of the men 
had eyes like hawks. 

We saw two masts come bobbing up 
to port in the translucent twilight of 
this June evening. A smoke-stack fol- 
lowed and soon the hull of a steamer 
loomed above the horizon. With the 
aid of our powerful prism-glasses we 
were able to keep her under close ob- 
servation. We decided to fix her 
course, so as to be able to avoid her, yet 
remain on the surface. We soon man- 
aged to secure a few good observations 

[41] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

and I proceeded to consult the chart. I 
studied this, made comparisons, took 
another observation, made certain cal- 
culations and once again referred to 
the chart. I was stunned. The course 
this steamer was taking would never 
lead her into any port ! 

How could this be possible? 

She was steering directly for the 
coast — heading for the rocks ! 

I summoned Krapohl and showed 
him my figures. We once more took the 
steamer under observation with our 
glasses and compared the chart — 
everything tallied. The fellow was 
bound straight for nothingness! 

In the meantime we had approached 
close enough to enable us to distinguish 
her clearly. The June evening was 
still so clear and bright that we could 
remark everything with great ease. 

[42] 



Voyage of the Beutschland 

She was a fine steamer, of middling 
size, carried a large neutral flag and 
was conspicuously painted with the 
same colors along her sides. In the 
middle of her length she bore a long, 
double name, which we could not yet 
make out. 

Suddenly Kropohl sang out : 
"Donner wetter! how does it happen 
that this fellow is still flying his colors 
so long after sundown? Can that be 
mere accident? And there's something 
suspicious about the way that paint is 
laid on! The rascal looks queer to 
me!" 

I was forced to agree. I was par- 
ticularly suspicious about the senseless 
course the ship was taking. One 
doesn't go promenading for pleasure 
around the reaches of the North Sea 
in the midst of a World War! 

[43] 



Voyage of the Deutscliland 

We consulted as to what action to 
take. The steamer apparently had not 
yet seen ns. She pursued her myste- 
rious course and was already a trifle 
off our stern. 

I therefore decided not to dive, since 
our two courses would soon take us far 
apart. 

Suddenly the steamer made a sharp 
turn and came directly toward us. We 
were now able to see that this good 
neutral had also swung out his boats, 
naturally in order to establish still fur- 
ther his character as a harmless mer- 
chantman who was ready for all con- 
tingencies and quite willing to obey 
all the orders of a fighting submarine. 

We were sufficiently satisfied with 
this most ingratiating endeavor to 
please. I sent all men below decks and 
at once sounded the alarm. We pre- 

[44] 



Voyage of the Deutscliland 

pared to dive and made a turn toward 
the steamer, so as to lie cross to the 
seas, as this facilitates getting under 
water. 

And now to our great astonishment, 
we observed the following: The neu- 
tral steamer had hardly seen us make 
one turn and prepare to dive, than she 
made a quick move and altered her 
course. And as we sank beneath the 
surface we saw her vomiting clouds of 
smoke and making for the distance in 
a zigzag course! 

This confession of an uneasy con- 
science was overwhelming evidence for 
us. We roared with laughter over the 
flight of this jolly " neutral" with the 
mysterious course. The crafty fellow 
knew that the game was up. He natur- 
ally took us for a war submarine and 
was fearful of getting a torpedo be- 

[45] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

tween his ribs during the next few 
moments. 

He must have been boiling with rage. 
It would have been so pleasant to come 
up close to the "pest" under the guise 
of a "neutral" and then at a safe 
distance to drop his porthole covers 
and his harmless colors and to let fly 
at us with shells. The U-boat trap had 
been prettily prepared — the German 
"pirate" need only have come a trifle 
closer ! 

Instead of accommodating our friend 
the enemy, we made our bow under 
water and emerged after some two 
hours had elapsed. I first searched the 
horizon through the periscope and 
then, still half submerged, I opened 
the turret manhole in order to sweep 
the seas with the glass. All was safe. 
The moon had risen in the south, and 

[46] 



Voyage of the Dentschland 

made the bright summer night still 
more radiant. As far as my vision 
reached, the sea was clear, not a steam- 
er in sight. 

The Deutschland might now go 
her ways unhindered. Apart from 
the joy felt over the disillusionizing 
of the cunning manipulator of the U- 
boat trap, I now had the certitude that 
we would be able to see all vessels be- 
fore they saw us. 

That, as you will agree, is, under the 
circumstances, a great deal. 



[47] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 



V 



HEAD DOWNWARDS IN THE 
NORTH SEA 

I had decided to proceed submerged 
under electric power during the dark- 
est hours of the following night — that 
is, between eleven and one o'clock. 
When we made our dive during the 
dusk of the long summer day, there 
was still little wind. But a high swell 
was flowing — a sure sign that in a few 
hours the storm would come lashing 
along. About two o'clock a.m. I gave 
orders to rise and was soon aware, by 
the increasingly wild movements of the 
boat, that the storm had come and that 
a still heavier sea was accompanying it. 

Our craft made regular leaps and 
capers. Nevertheless we calmly blew 

[48] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

out our tanks and came up in fine 
fashion. As soon as the periscope pro- 
jected, I tried to obtain a view of 
things above. But it was impossible to 
see a thing, as the periscope cut into 
thick hills of water every few moments. 
In addition to this the cold, gray dawn 
light made the waves that came wallow- 
ing along appear still larger and more 
sinister than usual. So we emerged 
completely above the surface. I climbed 
upon the turret, in order to have a 
proper look over the madly waltzing 
seas. 

A pretty bit o' weather! All around 
us in the livid glow of the dawn a 
veritable witch's kettle of impossibly 
monstrous mountains of water crowned 
with foam, which the wind blew off in 
the shape of briny dust and drove 
hissing through the air. The boat la- 

[49] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

bored heavily head on, and now and 
again fell violently away. The entire 
deck was, of course, flooded. Every few 
seconds a sea came lurching against 
the turret and burst over me in dense 
showers of spray. I clung to the 
parapet of the "bath-tub" and 
searched the horizon — a most remark- 
able horizon of heavy hills of water 
which went sliding in and out like the 
wing-pieces in a stage-setting. 

I was just about to order the Diesel 
engines to be switched on — when I gave 
a start. What was that — that dark line 
there ? Was it a trail of smoke ? 

But it was already blocked out by a 
billow which shoved itself between the 
ashen heavens and the heaving sea. . . . 

I watched and waited, and stared 
through my glass until my eyes began 
to ache. . . . 

[50] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

There it was again! No doubt of it 
— it was a glimmer of smoke; and 
there! — thin as a needle — a masthead! 
I had got it centered in my glass. And 
then ! as I bored my eyes into the glass 
— something came heaving up out of 
the valleys of the sea — a dark, drab 
thing — with smoke hanging above it — 
and four squat smoke-stacks . . . 

' * Donnertvetter — a destroyer ! ' ' 

I made one jump into the turret and 
slammed the cover fast. 

" Alarm! Dive quickly! Flood!" 

"Set diving rudder!" 

"Twenty meters depth!" 

The commands were uttered in al- 
most one breath. But the execution of 
them! 

To attempt to dive with such a sea 
running was sheer madness, as experi- 
ence has taught us. What was I to do % 

[51] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

The destroyer might have seen us 
already ! 

Well, we knew we must get under — 
and as quickly as possible. 

The men in the central below me 
were working away in silent haste. 
All the exhausts were opened wide, the 
compressed air hissed from the tanks 
— the diving vents were chanting in all 
possible keys. 

I stood with my lips pressed together 
and stared out of the turret window 
upon the tossing sea, and watched for 
the first sign of our going down. But 
our deck remained still visible and we 
were continually lifted into the air by 
some wave. There was not a moment 
to be lost. 

I ordered the diving rudder to be 
set still more sharply and both engines 
to drive ahead with full power. 

[52] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

The whole vessel quivered and 
thrilled under the increased pressure 
of the engines and made several leaps. 
She staggered about in the furious 
seas — but still seemed loath to leave the 
surface. Then she gave a jerk and her 
bows suddenly dipped and cut into the 
flood. She began to sink into the 
depths at an ever-increasing angle. 
The coming daylight vanished from the 
windows of the turret, the manometer 
in rapid succession showed 2 — 3 — 6 — 
10 meters depth. But the angle of the 
boat also began to increase. 

We staggered about, leaned back, 
slipped off our feet. We then lost our 
footing entirely — for the floor of the 
Deutschland slanted sharply toward 
the front. I was just able to catch 
hold of the ocular or eye-piece of the 
periscope. Down in the central the 

[53] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

men were hanging on to the hand- 
wheels of the diving rudder. A few 
terrible seconds passed thus. 

We had not yet seized the full sig- 
nificance of this new situation when 
there came a severe shock. We were 
hurled to the floor and everything that 
was not fastened down went flying in 
all directions. 

We found ourselves in the queerest 
attitudes — and stared into one an- 
other's faces. There was a grim 
silence for a moment, then First Officer 
Krapohl remarked dryly: 

"Well, we seem to have arrived!" 

This broke the ghastly tension. 

We were all rather pale around the 
gills, but at once tried to get our bear- 
ings. 

What had happened? 

What had caused this unnatural in- 

[54] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

clination of the boat? And why were 
the engines above us raving at inter- 
vals in a way that made the whole boat 
roar from stem to stern? 

Before any of us had arrived at any 
solution of the mystery, our Chief Engi- 
neer, little Klees, had jumped up from 
his crouching position and, swift as 
lightning, had swept the engine-signal 
dial around to "Stop!" 

And suddenly there was a deep 
silence. 

We slowly assembled our proper 
legs and arms and thought hard over 
what had happened. 

The vessel had slanted down toward 
the bows at an angle of about 36 de- 
grees. She was standing, so to speak, 
on her head. Our bow was fast upon 
the bottom of the sea — our stern was 
still oscillating up and down like a 

[55] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

mighty pendulum. The manometer 
showed a depth of about 15 meters. 

I soon had a clear picture of our 
situation — it was far from cheering. 

According to the chart we should 
have some 31 meters depth at this spot. 
But the steep slant of the long vessel 
must have caused the stern to go rak- 
ing above the surface for a consider- 
able distance. This would furnish a 
splendid target for an enemy destroyer. 
As long as the engines still ran, the 
following must also have occurred: 
Every time the hollow of a wave raced 
over us, the propellers raced in empty 
air part of the time, and no doubt in- 
creased our powers of attraction by 
flinging up fountains of water and 
whirls of foam. Klees had at once 
recognized this by the racing of the 
motors, and his presence of mind had 

[56] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

at least obviated the more immediate 
peril. 

Nevertheless we had betrayed our 
resting-place by a self-made little 
storm. And so we expected to hear 
the crash of a shell at any moment — 
smashing into the high-uprearing and 
outstanding stern overhead. 

More seconds passed — under a ter- 
rific strain. 

But nothing happened. The screws 
were no longer able to betray us. It 
was not yet full daylight overhead, and 
it was possible that the furious sea gave 
the destroyer enough to bother about. 

Of course we at once hastened to 
get out of this idiotic fix. The boat 
had remained quite watertight, and had 
sustained the heavy shock without the 
slightest damage. So everything pro- 
ceeded according to program. The 

[57] 



Voyage of the Deutscliland 

after-tanks which had not yet been en- 
tirely exhausted of air were swiftly 
flooded, and so bit by bit the boat be- 
gan to assume a more reasonable 
attitude. 

Still she by no means lay horizontal 
as yet — for she had struck her nose 
too deeply into the mud for that. 
Nevertheless we were now completely 
under water and could proceed quietly 
with our work. The forward tanks 
were emptied of a part of their con- 
tents. Thus by balancing and trim- 
ming with the tanks we finally man- 
aged to get the bows clear of the bot- 
tom. We now began to rise, but were 
at once obliged to offset the inclination 
to oscillate caused by the full af t-tanks. 
After a time the center of gravity w r as 
again restored and I once more had 
the Deutschland well in hand. 

[58] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

We now also had time to consider 
what had caused this sudden bucking 
on the part of our usually so well-be- 
haved boat? This must have been 
due to a whole chain of circumstances. 
Quite apart from the difficulty of sub- 
merging a large submarine in a high- 
running sea, it was possible that the 
tanks, owing to the haste induced by 
the presence of the destroyer, had not 
been quite freed of air. Added to this 
must be the sudden dynamic force ex- 
erted by the diving rudder, which in 
combination with the full force of the 
engines and the crushing weight of a 
particularly heavy sea, had given the 
boat this dangerous slant. 

We were in a position similar to that 
of a dirigible balloon which steers for 
the earth at too steep an angle just be- 
fore landing, and which is furthermore 

[59] 



Voyage of the BeutscMand 

crushed to the ground with double 
force owing to a sudden downward 
blast of air. Of course, the wonderful 
material of our steel outer hull with- 
stood the shock without damage. It is, 
however, possible that the bottom of 
the North Sea sustained some slight 
damage in latitude x degrees north, 
and in longitude x degrees east. 

One thing appears remarkable to me, 
as I now strive to recollect what my 
impressions were as we rushed at full 
speed downward into the depths at an 
angle of 36 degrees — my first thoughts 
were entirely for the cargo. Was it well 
stored ? Might it not be pitched about ? 
This thought was wholly instinctive, odd 
as this may seem, for the Old Adam 
which has once got hold of the captain of 
a big fat liner is not easily shaken off, 
even when he steps aboard a submarine. 

[60] 



Voyage of the Deutscliland 



VI 



"WESTWARD HO!" 

We had had enough of the North 
Sea. And now we were about to strike 
for the outer reaches — for the "open 
sea!" 

As to our course, everything, thank 
Heaven, was certain! Less certain, to 
be sure, were the things that might 
happen to us upon that course. We 
were bound to encounter various little 
surprises. 

But what is the use of voyaging in 
a submarine if you are not ready to 
evade surprises — and to evade them 
with a good chance of success? We 
thought of the numbers of war subma- 
rines which had been successful in 



[61] 



Voyage of the Detttschland 

reaching the outer seas. And these 
fighting brethren of ours had a certain 
number of difficult duties to fulfil en 
route — whereas we had merely to avoid 
being seen, and to slip through with a 
whole hide. 

The first duty imposed upon us was, 
of course, not so much to avoid being 
seen, as to avoid being recognized as 
a merchant U-boat. 

The peculiar nature of our gallant 
little Detttschland as an unarmed, 
peaceful merchant vessel would not 
have protected us a moment from be- 
ing sunk insta,ntly without warning. 
Of this we were absolutely convinced, 
and we were afterwards confirmed in 
this belief by the official declarations 
of the English and French govern- 
ments. 

Had they, however, recognized us as 

[62] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

a merchant submarine — then we should 
not only have been in immediate peril, 
but our entry into our American port 
of destination would have been endan- 
gered in the highest degree — for we 
should at once have had a pack of blood- 
thirsty sleuths lowering for our trail. 
Even if things went favorably, we 
should have been done out of the effect 
of our astonishing arrival in America. 
As you may well imagine, it was espe- 
cially upon this point that we had set 
our pride and honor. 

Such, in the main, were my delibera- 
tions, as we approached the regions of 
the " danger zone." 

We " snaked" ourselves along with 
the greatest possible vigilance. We 
saw many things; we ourselves were 
seen but seldom, and recognized never. 
In the daytime we avoided various 

[63] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

steamers by simply altering our course. 
During the night-time we drove along 
with all lights blinded, and dived 
whenever we thought it necessary. 

The weather was also favorable. 
Once we sighted a British auxiliary 
cruiser at a considerable distance. She 
was bound in a definite direction, and 
was following a zigzag course. For a 
time we maintained a parallel course, 
keeping her under close observation. 
But the high seas that were running 
seemed to absorb her entire attention, 
and so we ourselves remained unob- 
served. 

On another occasion, toward dusk, a 
patrol boat approached us. It had 
seen us and adopted the mask of harm- 
lessness in order to tempt us to an at- 
tack. But we continued quietly on our 
way and the patrol boat gave up in 

[64] 




<Q Int. Cross Exchange 

Preparing to Dock at Baltimore 

An exceptional view from the stern, showing unique construction 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

disgust. There were also swifter patrol 
craft which we were able to steer clear 
of in good time. 

Later the wind subsided, and it be- 
gan to grow misty. We dived and lay 
upon the bottom. There was no need 
of hurry, and why should we not grant 
ourselves a little rest? 

The waters we chose were, to be sure, 
far from shallow — on the contrary, 
they were quite deep. But we reposed 
all the more safely and quietly for 
that. And we had a profound faith in 
the splendid sounding apparatus, and 
the wonderful compression hull of our 
good Deutschland. 

This night, spent upon the bottom of 
the sea, meant real recuperation for 
all of us. We were all able to have 
a proper wash and to lie down to rest 
without having to fear that a sudden 

5 [65] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

"Hoo-ee!" in the speaking-tube would 
startle us out of our dreams. First, 
however, we had dinner — a real and 
regular dinner. The two gramophones 
were set going and we clinked our 
glasses, filled — thanks to somebody's 
thoughtful courtesy — with French 
champagne. 

Our steward, Stucke — the dear soul! 
— served us with a solemn ceremoni- 
ousness, just as though he were still 
the dining-room steward aboard the 
Kronprinzessin Cecilie, and had not 
spent almost a year in French captiv- 
ity ! And now he was showing his arts 
aboard the Deutschland at a depth of 
many meters ! He was inexhaustible in 
constantly devising new resources for 
our cheerful little mess, and it was 
amazing to see what undreamed-of 
quantities of silver and linen he was 

[66] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

able to stow away in his miniature 
pantry and a couple of drawers. 

The following morning we once more 
rose to the surface. The exhaust pumps 
snored and hummed, and we began to 
climb out of the depths with hundreds 
of gallons " above normal," and with 
the diving rudders set as they 
should go. 

At a depth of tw T enty meters, the 
boat began to lose her fine stability. 
She rocked and tossed. The mano- 
meter was the first to record this, then 
the diving rudders began to announce 
the fact by setting up a stout resist- 
ance. They have a habit under such 
circumstances of bucking heavily. 

The higher we rose, the more lively 
our movements grew. A very respec- 
table sea was bowling along overhead. 

I ordered us to proceed for a time 

[67] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

with the periscope protruding just 
above the surface and surveyed the 
field. Nothing could be seen but a 
waste of white-crested waves racing 
along. But this sort of weather was 
quite to my liking, for it enabled us 
to slide along without keeping up such 
a vigilant watch. 

So I decided to emerge completely 
and ordered compressed air to be shot 
into the tanks until the turret was suf- 
ficiently free. Then the Diesel motors 
were switched on, and the ventilating 
mechanism began to supply fresh air. 
But we had no sooner opened the cover 
of the manhole than the first damp 
greetings came whizzing into the cen- 
tral. So we clamped her down again. 
Another tank was blown clear — the 
" turbo" blast made short work of the 
imprisoned water. 

[68] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

A certain trick of seamanship was, 
however, necessary, before we could 
undertake this step. In order to rise 
entirely it is necessary to lie in the 
trough of the waves, since a high sea 
makes it impossible for the long and 
heavy hull to emerge head on. 

So under a low speed, we laid the 
Deutschland cross to the seas. She 
rolled heavily — a beastly situation! 
which ahnost shook the soul out of 
one's body. Every few moments the 
ponderous cross seas went rolling over 
the vessel. But she obeyed the diving 
rudders and slowly stuck her nose out 
of the water. After we had reached 
the surface the turret, with its peri- 
scopes, described terrifying arcs, swing- 
ing back and forth. 

There was another highly unpleas- 
ant moment to get over — to bring the 

[69] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

Deatschland around upon her course 
once more. 

I stood behind the thick turret win- 
dows down which the driving spray 
went steadily streaming, and braced 
myself with arms and legs against both 
sides in order to withstand the fear- 
ful tossing. Following old seaman's 
lore I watched for the period of irregu- 
lar comparative calm, which usually 
follows upon three particularly tall 
waves. 

The third billow had just lumbered 
by. I shouted an order to the helms- 
man in the central — the manoeuvre 
succeeded. The bow slowly nosed itself 
around — and we resumed our old 
course without being specially hard 
pounded by the big rollers. 

But there was still much work to do. 
The storm was still on the increase, 

[70] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

and we were able to proceed only 
slowly against this heavy sea. In addi- 
tion, some of the crew were suffering 
from seasickness, for the short jerky 
motions of the ship were dreadful. 

But the farther we proceeded the 
more the long steady swell of the 
Atlantic became recognizable. The 
short plunging and thumping ceased 
and passed over into a slow majestic 
cradling swing. In the distance we 
observed two English cruisers return- 
ing homeward from some nightly 
cruise. "We were lying too deep, how- 
ever, for them to observe us, and we 
saw them disappearing rapidly in an 
opposite course. 

We were now free of the Eng- 
lish patrol boats. We steered joy- 
ously toward the west, out upon the vast 
and rolling Atlantic — toward freedom. 

[71] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 



VII 

IN THE ATLANTIC 

We were now safely upon the high 
seas. But the Atlantic was far from 
giving us a friendly welcome. We had 
become inured to many things during 
the last few days, but I was anxious to 
spare the nerves of my men. It was 
necessary to husband their strength as 
far as possible in view of the long 
voyage before us. So I decided to 
adopt a more southerly course, think- 
ing to find better weather there. Un- 
fortunately we were deceived in this. 

As I now look over my log-book 
written during those first few days in 
the Atlantic, I constantly come across 
notes such as; "A heavy sea." " Stiff 

[72] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

wind from the west-nor'-west — velocity 
8." "The wind develops to a storm." 
"Heavy seas sweep over the entire boat 
and even the turret." "The boat is 
traveling under water almost the en- 
tire time." The few disconnected 
phrases may give you some idea of the 
serious and extraordinarily wearing 
life of twenty-nine human beings in a 
closed-in steel fish which cuts its way 
without pause through a wild and 
tumultuous sea. 

Here, during these storms upon the 
Atlantic, the splendid seaworthiness 
and marvellous constructive genius em- 
bodied in the Deutschland were put to 
the most extreme tests. The elements 
certainly did their utmost to defeat our 
attempt to reach America. The most 
terrific strain was put upon both the 
hull of our boat and the engines, which 

[73] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

were forced to keep running at a regu- 
lar speed day after day if we were to 
have any chance of reaching our 
goal. 

I consider it an honorable obligation 
at this point to express my grateful 
thanks to the builders whose work had 
furnished us such a magnificent instru- 
ment for the successful completion of 
our voyage. It is easy to grow enthu- 
siastic over a splendid ship which lies 
snug in some port and captivates 
everybody with its beautiful lines, or 
arouses the admiration both of sailors 
and landsmen as it goes rushing along 
at its highest speed, but the real worth 
of a ship, its inner worth, so to speak, 
can only be ascertained after it has stood 
its test upon the high seas. You realize 
its good qualities and have confidence in 
its reliability and seaworthiness only 

[74] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

after it lias made headway against a 
wind pressure of 10, and a sea of 8 
degrees of velocity! And this not 
merely for a few hours, but for days 
and weeks! A ship has a good chance 
of proving her worth under such con- 
ditions. 

This applies particularly to a U-boat 
in times of war. A tramp steamer in 
times of peace, a craft which is often 
able to fulfil all kinds of demands made 
upon it, is always able to reach some 
port in case of need, or to call for help. 
At the very worst, it can drive before 
the wind for a few days, and wait for 
better weather. But all this is impos- 
sible for the U-boat. In addition to 
the dangers of the sea, it must reckon 
with danger from the side of the ene- 
my — the cruellest and most merciless 
of all enemies. There is no port of 

[75] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

distress open to it. Should it remain 
helpless upon the surface only a few 
hours and be discovered, then every 
passing sail, which would be the first 
to bring help to a steamer in distress, 
will merely proceed to call to lowering 
bloodhounds of the sea to fall upon 
their prey. The master of no ship is 
so lonely, so forced to depend en- 
tirely upon himself as the master 
of a submarine. Should he not be able 
to depend absolutely upon his craft, he 
is doomed beyond hope. 

So we of the Deutschland all knew 
what we owed to Chief Engineer Er- 
bach, the constructor of our boat, and 
to the Germania Yard, where it was 
built. The Deutschland' s quality is 
owing to Erbach's plans and the ad- 
mirable co-operation of all the men 
who had her construction in charge. 

[76] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

All the work done upon the stocks at 
Kiel in that amazingly short time dur- 
ing the winter of 1915, work exact and 
minute to the most microscopic detail, 
all that Herr Erbach had shown me 
and taught me upon those unforget- 
table trial trips in the spring of the 
same year — all these moral and mate- 
rial factors were now battling their 
way across the storm-lashed ocean. We 
were carrying a new glory of German 
shipbuilding across the world. 

To undergo a hurricane upon a U- 
boat is quite another affair to encoun- 
tering it upon a steamer — even of the 
same tonnage. One must remain on 
the surface as long as possible in order 
to make progress with the powerful 
oil engines. The electric power of the 
storage batteries must be economized 
for use in the most extreme emergen- 

[77] 



Voyage of the Deutscliland 

cies, as it would otherwise prove impos- 
sible to dive or manoeuvre swiftly. 
But what is implied by a U-boat pro- 
ceeding on the surface during a storm % 
It is always plunged up to the turret 
in water, and even the turret is cov- 
ered by the waves. The seas go over 
the entire boat, since it is too heavy 
to be lifted like an ordinary craft and 
because, unlike a steamer, it cannot 
bring its " reserve displacement" to 
bear by boring into the oncoming seas. 
Its entire body is already submerged, 
and so it cannot possibly increase its 
displacement by plunging in still more 
deeply — thus attaining more buoyancy 
and momentum. 

The elastic movements of the steamer, 
which continually changes its displace- 
ment during a heavy sea, and is lifted 
and supported by a constantly increas- 

[78] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

ing impetus, is something that does not 
apply to the U-boat. Bellowing, and 
with fearful impact, the waves fall 
upon the trembling body of the ship. 
Its movements are direct and in jerks, 
and impose a tremendous strain upon 
all joints and ties. 

It is ordeals such as these which 
test the material under a man's feet 
and show what genius went to the con- 
struction of a ship which is able to 
assert itself in the infernal cauldron 
of such a tempest, yet still make head- 
way and obey the helm. 

Yes, the U-Deutschland was put to 
a fearful test — and stood it wonder- 
fully well. Matters looked ugly for 
several days. Tornado-like blasts 
whipped up the sea and flooded the 
vessel with thundering mountains of 
water. Naturally, all the manholes of 

[79] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

the deck were battened down. Even 
that one which opened upon the plat- 
form of the turret and was so well 
protected by the wall of the " bath-tub" 
had to be banged shut at short inter- 
vals by the officer on watch — whenever 
a sea came roaring up. 

It was no joke — this duty upon the 
turret. Still, it was infinitely more 
desirable than to remain below decks 
where the confined air and the ever- 
lasting rolling and pitching of the ves- 
sel began to play havoc with the men, 
who all suffered from sea-sickness. 
Many an old experienced sailor made 
his first offering to Neptune under 
such conditions. 

On the third day the weather at last 
began to abate. The seas subsided and 
we were able to open all the various 
manholes so as to air the interior and 

[80] 




© Int. Film Service 

Left — Captain Hinsch , 

of North German Lloyd 

Center — Captain Paul Konig 
Bight — Paul G. Tj. Hilken, 

American Manager. German Ocean Navigation Co. 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

help it to dry. All the men of the 
watch off duty came up to stretch and 
sun themselves on the deck. Some of 
them needed it badly. They came up 
from below with pale faces and weary 
eyes. But no sooner did they snuff the 
fresh sea-breezes than they would light 
up their beloved weeds. 

As few steamers were to be expected 
along our present route, we decided to 
have a great drying-out. Every man 
brought up his damp things — which 
would never dry in the confined air 
below — to be aired above deck. The 
whole deck was full of mattresses, 
blankets, clothes and boots. The un- 
derwear was fastened to the wires of 
the hand-rail and fluttered merrily in 
the wind as upon a wash-line. The 
men lay about between and sunned 
themselves like lizards. In order to 

[81] 



Voyage of the Beutschland 

increase the fan ventilation of the 
quarters below by good draughts of 
natural air, wind catchers were put up 
around all the manholes or trap-doors. 
These have scalloped side-wings and 
resemble the fins of fish. The curved, 
greenish body of the Deutschland 
rigged out with these things took on 
the appearance of some fantastic pre- 
historic fish-monster. We must have 
presented a remarkable spectacle! 

But there was nobody about to see 
us or express surprise. A single 
steamer came popping up on the hori- 
zon toward evening, heralded by its 
smoke, but we were able to keep clear 
by a change of course. 

The spirit of the men was splendid. 
One of the signs of this was the voice 
of the gramophone from the quarters 
of the crew. We also had our " canned 

[82] 



Voyage of the Beutschland 

music" in the officers' mess — for life 
aboard a TT-boat would be unthinkable 
without it. 

The more or less monotonous part 
of our voyage now began. The weather 
remained fair — we did not expect to 
meet with many craft. 

I find the following note in my log- 
book: 

"The boring part of our trip has 
now arrived. The boat keeps on her 
course always twisting a little, now 
and then we evade a steamer. Days 
go by without our seeing anything 
whatsoever. The gramophones play 
and everybody is in excellent spirits. 
A TJ-boat on the high seas makes a 
man more dependent upon the weather 
than any other spot in the world." 

This was really the first opportunity 
we had had for breathing freely. We 

[83] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

looked backward, we looked forward, 
and all of us grew more communica- 
tive under the influence of this eternal 
sameness of the sea. 

I happened to be standing on the 
foredeck one day. Beside me, in the 
open wooden shell which covers the 
small, raised deck amidships beneath 
which our life-boat is stored, crouched 
our gigantic boatswain, Humke. Sev- 
eral fastenings had been loosened dur- 
ing the stormy days, and these had to 
be tightened. I had been standing 
there for quite a while, gazing west- 
ward, my thoughts fixed upon America 
— our goal. 

I was suddenly moved by a strong 
desire to talk to that good soul Humke 
about these things. I asked him what 
he thought of our voyaging to America 
in the very midst of the war. What 

[84] 



Voyage of the DeutscMand 

was his opinion as to the purpose of 
our enterprise? 

The worthy fellow grinned and 
replied at once: "Why, to make 
money ! ' ' 

This was a bit too summary for me, 
and I tried to make him understand 
what it would mean to resume our 
trade relations with America — in the 
very midst of war and in the face of 
all the English blockading squadrons. 
I also explained to him the purpose of 
the British blockade. He answered 
quickly in his Hamburg dialect: "Yes, 
now I know just what these Englanders 
are aiming for with their blockade." 

I went further and explained to 
him as best I could, the essentials and 
the meaning of an effective, blockade. 
His answer was given with all the 
naive assurance of our seamen and 

[85] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

with the real accent of the soul of the 
populace : 

" Achl they won't get us, any- 
way! And then, what's the use of that 
whole English blockade, eh?" 

In the meantime, several men of the 
watch off duty had come up and were 
listening to my talk. There they stood, 
with legs far apart, on the deck of a 
small U-boat in the middle of the At- 
lantic — broad-shouldered, fearless Ger- 
man seamen. 

"Well, now," I said, "you have now 
heard why we are pounding away 
across these seas. But I should like to 
say a little more to you. 

"My dear fellows! It is hard to 
realize the real meaning of this trip 
of ours! Our gallant little Deutsch- 
land represents much more than a U- 
f reight boat, with which we are carry- 

[86] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

ing German goods to the Americans. 
These goods, of course, are such as Eng- 
lish trade-envy and English craft have 
prevented from reaching America up 
to now. And this not only in order 
to damage German exports, but to 
draw profit from the disadvantages 
of others — to injure American manu- 
facturers and American trade in a 
most serious fashion. Well, we'll do 
our little best to end that! But that 
is not all by any means. The appear- 
ance of the first trade submarine means 
much more. Without carrying a sin- 
gle gun or a torpedo, our good ship 
Deutschland will help to revolutionize 
the nature of all sea-traffic, not only 
as regards the entire trans-oceanic 
commerce, but also all international 
law — a revolution of the most far-reach- 
ing consequences. 

[87] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

"What has been the history of sea- 
traffic in this war — and of the U-boats 
of our Navy? We used these boats in 
order to protect ourselves against the 
barbaric methods of starvation so con- 
trary to all international law. And 
what did the English then do? They 
armed their merchant-ships and bom- 
barded every U-boat which approached 
them for the legal purpose of sinking 
contraband. And this is what these 
people call defense. 

"What was the natural result of 
this? We protect ourselves and our 
submarines, toward which every fish- 
ing-trawler is apt to prove a Baralong 
butcher, and without warning we sink 
these armed English merchant-ships 
so that we ourselves may not be sud- 
denly sunk by shell-fire or by ram- 
ming. 

[88] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

"And then the English begin to 
whine for help. And with interna- 
tional law as it at present stands, they 
manage to win the Americans to their 
point of view; for as the law at pres- 
ent exists, there are no regulations for 
submarines. We desire only peace 
with the great American people and so 
we give way. That government which 
rewarded the Captain of the Bara- 
long appears to have carried off a 
victory — it has been decided that mer- 
chant vessels are not to be sunk without 
warning. 

"And now our Deutschland comes 
along. It is a U-boat and a merchant 
vessel. Merchant vessels are not to be 
sunk without warning — the law as it 
exists contains no regulations for TJ- 
boats. But a merchant submarine 
which must be examined before it is 

[89] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

sunk would be rather difficult to cap- 
ture — so long as it is capable of div- 
ing. Here the swiftest torpedo-boat is 
quite powerless. 

"The English have been caught in 
their own trap. The Deutschland 
brings about the collapse of this entire 
one-sided interpretation of the formal 
law. That which was first used against 
us now becomes our defense." 

"Things now stand thus: If mer- 
chant vessels, which, of course, may 
also be built as submarines, must not 
be sunk without examination, then our 
Deutschland under the existing laws 
has vitiated the right of the English 
blockade. For I should like to see the 
German merchant U-boat which an 
English patrol steamer could approach 
close enough to examine. 

"Or, if the U-boat is not to be 

[90] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

searched, then merchant vessels may be 
sunk without warning — including the 
English. Thus the laws of warfare 
would once more be brought into a just 
equipoise by means of a peaceful, un- 
armed merchant-submarine. 

"Such, my men, is the tremendous 
importance which devolves upon the 
appearance of our Deutscliland." 

And thus I closed what I think was 
the longest speech which I ever made 
in my life. 



The beautiful weather continued. 
The barometer remained at fair, the 
atmosphere dry and clear. We gradu- 
ally approached the latitudes in which 
fair weather may be expected during 
this season of the year. The warmth 
of the sun's rays was making itself 

[91] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

felt, and we began to plan ways of re- 
freshing ourselves. 

Our " surf -bath" was one of the best 
of these. This was the invention of 
our engine-watchman, Kissling. He 
usually had no interest in anything ex- 
cept his motors. For these he was ani- 
mated by a most touching and unpar- 
alleled devotion. How often, when high 
seas were raging, had I seen a man pop 
up through the turret manhole and at- 
tempt to force himself in blind haste 
through the " bath-tub" without regard 
to the sublime acts of navigation which 
were just being performed there. And 
whenever the officer on watch was about 
to remonstrate angrily over this dis- 
turbance, it was always our valiant 
Kissling who, impelled by a deep 
anxiety for his motors, and garbed in 
his oldest oilskins, would go scrambling 

[92] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

across the dripping and flooded decks 
toward the stern to have a look at his 
exhaust-pipes. He was also moved to 
examine the combustion of his motors 
a thousand times a day — to see if the 
pulse-beat of his engines was all it 
should be and the explosions regular. 
He was entirely absorbed by his be- 
loved engines, and their rhythm became 
part of his life. He could sense the 
slightest irregularity in their working, 
and would not rest until he had found 
and removed it. 

He must have been struck by the idea 
during one of his rather dangerous ex- 
peditions across the sloping, slippery 
decks. Anyway, he made us all happy 
one day with his invention of the 
"surf -bath." The thing was quite 
simple and obvious — like all great in- 
ventions. 

[93] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

In order to understand it properly, 
you must picture to yourself the outer 
superstructure of the Deutschland. 
The outer hull which gives its distinc- 
tive shape to the vessel is built over 
the cylinder-like compression hull and 
the lateral submersion tanks and oil- 
bunkers. The upper part of this outer 
hull also contains the so-called outer 
tanks, which are always flooded when 
the ship is loaded. Water and air 
have ingress to these tanks through 
many openings, holes and slits, that 
diving and rising may be facilitated. 
The outer tanks, therefore, play no 
part so far as the floating capacity of 
the vessel goes. They are a mere re- 
sult of the outer skin which gives the 
craft its shiplike shape. Toward the 
top, this outer shell does not follow the 
shape of the compression hull and 

[94] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

tanks. In spite of their comparatively 
minor importance, the outer tanks must 
naturally be accessible from above. 
This is made possible by large covers 
which are fitted into the outer shell. 
There are also ladders which facilitate 
descent into the tanks. When stand- 
ing on the so-called tank-deck, there is 
still enough room between this and the 
deck line for a man to stand erect in 
the outer tanks. 

When the ship is under way, the 
sea-water, of course, comes pouring 
into this large space from all sides. 
One need only step into the manhole 
after removing the covers in order to 
enjoy a most wonderful and absolutely 
safe ocean " surf -bath." 

We made frequent use of this idea 
and had splendid baths. 

There was only one disadvantage. 

[95] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

In case you stepped into the "surf- 
bath" after we had risen from a sub- 
mersion you would be given not a 
surf but a regular oil-bath. The oil- 
bunkers are seldom hermetically tight, 
especially after a long and difficult 
course. And so it happens that the 
rising boat frequently breaks through 
a layer of its own oil as it mounts to 
the surface. This layer of oil then 
settles upon the "bath-tub," the covers 
of the manholes and the decks. In 
the outer tanks it naturally remains 
upon the surface of the water, which 
cannot change very rapidly here. It 
usually took more than a day before 
the stale, oily water had streamed 
away from these tanks and been re- 
placed by new. So whoever happened 
to make use of the "surf -bath" during 
this period would come out but little 

[96] 










© Int. Film Service 

Captain Paul Konig 

Photograph taken in Baltimore on arrival of 
the Deutschland 




© Int. Film Service 

Paul G. L. Hilken 

American Manager German Ocean Navigation Co. 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

refreshed and with a skin that shone 
in all colors, like that of the "Mckel- 
man" in Hauptmann's " Sunken Bell." 
The crew, of course, always took a 
special delight in this metamorphosis. 



The fine weather also gave an op- 
portunity to play another sort of game 
with my men — something that was not 
without bearing upon the smooth pro- 
gress of our voyage. We got out our 
sextants and proceeded once more to 
get our exact bearings by means of the 
sun. We had been able to locate our- 
selves only approximately during the 
stormy days that had preceded this fair 
spell. The marvellously clear air im- 
pelled me to exercise myself at dusk 
in the observation of stars and in 
computing the height of the con- 
stellations. 

[97] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

After my long period of idleness 
ashore I felt a positive need to pro- 
duce my chronometer and sextant and 
to calculate a proper bearing under 
these most remarkable circumstances. 

Astronomical navigation aboard a 
U-boat is not a particularly easy task. 

An old steamer captain cannot but 
feel a trifle queer when navigating a 
craft of this sort through the great 
trade routes — and a by no means tiny 
craft — from the low post of vantage 
of a turret. One does not have the cus- 
tomary outlook upon the sea; one has 
to reckon with a factor of movement 
that is quite strange; one must accus- 
tom oneself to a new method of ma- 
noeuvering and to new conditions of 
command and the estimation of dis- 
tance. But it is especially strange to 
take the attitude of the sun from the 

[98] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

narrow " bath-tub" of a submarine 
turret, or to check off a course or 
reckon out a latitude. One is accus- 
tomed to carry out one's measurements 
and reckonings at ease from the broad 
bridge of a great liner — high above 
the water — and to have all the neces- 
sary data promptly furnished by the 
signalman. From the bridge one pro- 
ceeds to the adjoining chart-room 
whence, upon a large chart-table, one 
can proceed to make one's calculations 
in ease and comfort. 

And now as to methods upon the 
U-boat. Jammed in an oval steel tank 
of about the size of a lady's small 
trunk, you cling for dear life to a 
small flap-seat, press one shoulder 
against the parapet and try to hold the 
sextant upright with a convulsive grip 
— until the image of the sun appears 

[99] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

directly on the artificial horizon. You 
are then obliged to shield the instru- 
ment quickly behind the protecting 
wall and to scuttle down the ladder 
into the central, just as you had pre- 
viously scuttled up — hugging the in- 
struments and charts against your 
breast and bracing yourself with back 
and knees. You then wedge yourself 
once more through the turret manhole, 
your eye kept peeled for every breaker, 
and get to work with compass and 
parallel ruler. 

Your chart-table is your knee, and 
you have the consciousness of having 
made your entire calculations in a 
cowering attitude. 

What joy under such circumstances 
to be able to work quietly on deck with 
a smooth sea and a clear sky! 

The experimental divings which we 

[100] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

made almost every day, were greatly 
facilitated by the fine weather. Every- 
thing chimed perfectly. We would be 
able to approach the American coast 
in peace and to dive into the three- 
mile limit. 

During these experimental diving 
tests we were treated to a spectacle of 
fairy-like loveliness. 

I had set the rudder in such a way 
that the turret was traveling about 
three yards under water. Overhead 
the sun shone brilliantly and filled the 
deeps with a clear radiance. The 
pure water was luminous with color — 
close at hand it was of a light azure 
blue, of fabulous clearness and trans- 
parent as glass. I could see the entire 
boat from the turret windows. The 
shimmering pearls of the air-bubbles 
which rise constantly from the body of 

[101] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

the craft played about the entire length 
of the vessel from deck to bows, and 
every detail stood out in miraculous 
sharpness. Farther ahead there was a 
multi-colored twilight. It seemed as if 
the prow kept pushing itself noise- 
lessly into a wall of opalescent green 
which parted, glistening, and grew to 
an ethereal, rainbow-like translucency 
close at hand 

We were spell-bound by this vision 
of beauty. The fairy-like effect was 
increased by medusae which, poised in 
the transparent blue, frequently be- 
came entangled in the wires of the 
mine-guards or the railings and glowed 
like trembling fires of rose, pale gold 
and purple. We saw no fish at this 
low depth. The following day we had 
a little experience which provided 
great fun for us, even though the end 

[102] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

was different from what we had ex- 
pected. 

My ambition had been aroused by 
the various successes which my com- 
rades of the fleet and the merchant- 
marine had achieved by hiding the 
identity of their ships by means of 
paint or other disguises, so as to de- 
ceive the enemy. 

During the fine weather we had pre- 
pared a most marvelous framework — 
representing the outline of a steamer. 
This would serve to hide our U-boat 
character to steamers passing at a con- 
siderable distance. A smoke-stack had 
been rigged up out of canvas and this 
could be fastened to the periscope by 
means of wire tackle and rings. It 
was able to rear proudly into the air. 

A mask of canvas had been made for 
the disguising of the turret — this 

[103] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

would give it the appearance of a 
small freight-boat. 

Thus prepared for all emergencies, 
we boomed along in the most beautiful 
sunshine, when one evening, at half -past 
seven, a steamer suddenly loomed up to 
starboard. We soon realized that she 
would have to pass quite close to us 
should we keep on our course. We 
therefore edged off a little and pro- 
ceeded to put our disguise to a test. 

The "smoke-stack" was hoisted upon 
the periscope and the wind blew it out 
to an imposing size. In order to give 
it still more reality, we burned a hand- 
ful of oil-soaked cotton waste at its 
lower end. The turret disappeared 
behind a somewhat fluttery "upper 
works." 

But the undutiful cotton-waste con- 
sented merely to glow and refused to 

[104] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

give out any smoke. Everybody stood 
round with puffed-up cheeks and blew 
and blew. Then the wireless operator, 
an inventive Berliner, fetched an air- 
pump and started a fearful fire in our 
imaginary furnaces. He was rewarded 
with a cheer, and above the edge of 
our " smoke-stack" appeared a thin 
little cloudlet which immediately dis- 
solved into nothingness. 

We laughed, and were about to pro- 
ceed smokeless upon our way when 
Humke, the boatswain, appeared with 
a can full of tar. The air-pump once 
more performed its duty and at 
length the smoke-stack might literally 
have been described as vomiting smoke. 

The effect was startling. For the 
steamer suddenly changed her course 
and — steered directly toward us! 

This was not precisely what we had 

[105] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

worked for. I at once ordered our 
mast to be dismounted and to clear 
ship for diving. The canvas super- 
structure disappeared and the magnifi- 
cent smoke-stack made a bow and col- 
lapsed. 

But the steamer had no sooner seen 
this and recognized us as a U-boat 
than she was seized with a blind con- 
sternation. She once more veered 
about and began to take to her heels, 
pouring out thick clouds of smoke — 
which we could not help regarding 
with a certain amount of envy. 

But undismayed we once more 
hoisted our stack. The masts went up 
again and while the steamer went 
plunging off in desperate haste, we 
stood and laughed until the tears rolled 
down our cheeks. The humor of the 
thing was simply overwhelming. 

[106] 



Voyage of the DeutscMand 

Our beautiful framework, which was 
intended to hide the character of our 
craft and render us inconspicuous, was 
precisely what had first attracted the 
attention of the gallant steamer. She 
apparently took us for a wreck or a 
ship in distress and came on with the 
best of intentions, only to be suddenly 
confronted with the diabolical subter- 
fuge of a hypocritical submarine ! 

I wonder what the people aboard 
her thought after they had recovered 
from their first fright ? I presume that 
they finally concluded to be mon- 
strously proud of having escaped this 
latest trick of the " pirates" in such 
a skillful fashion. 

We ourselves would have been far 
prouder had our framework performed 
its functions in better style. 

We did not permit ourselves to be 

[107] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

discouraged, however, but improved 
our devices. We met with great suc- 
cess two days later, when we went 
bowling past a steamer — coming in the 
opposite direction — under a tremen- 
dous development of smoke and with- 
out being recognized. 



[108] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 



VIII 

HELL WITH THE LID ON 

June was drawing to a close and 
with it, unfortunately, the good 
weather. 

A rising swell from the southwest, 
and the absence of the hoped-for favor- 
able current, were signs that there was 
a storm-center progressing along the 
southern reaches of the Gulf Stream. 

We proceeded thus for another day. 

Toward evening it began to grow 
sultry and oppressive; the sun sank 
doubtfully behind blood-red veils of 
mist. 

A wicked-looking sky and lively 
sheet lightning, as well as the rapidly 

[109] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

increasing hot humidity of the atmos- 
phere, proclaimed that we were in the 
neighborhood of the Gulf Stream. 
Toward night, tremendous thunder- 
storms came on, with a wind that came 
raging from all directions at once, and 
a wild, cross-running sea, which made 
steering very difficult. 

We tested the temperature of the 
water. It mounted gradually to 28° 
Celsius. 

We were in the Gulf Stream, which 
defines its periphery in the airs above 
it with a fiery wreath of heavy tropical 
storms. 

There was a strong phosphorescence 
of the sea and violent atmospheric dis- 
turbances — all of which are accom- 
panying phenomena of the Gulf 
Stream. We were aware of this by the 
behavior of our wireless apparatus, 

[110] 



Voyage of the DeutscMand 

which was irritated by the heavily 
charged electric atmosphere and began 
to go on strike. Until now the faithful 
thing had transmitted to ns the Ger- 
man military bulletins of the station 
Nauen without interruption, day after 
day. 

The phosphorescence of the sea seri- 
ously hindered the lookout. One was 
almost blinded, the eyes grew painful, 
and the vision became unsteady 
through this persistent coruscation of 
the waves in the coal-black night. This 
was rather uncomfortable, for we had 
now reached a region which was inter- 
sected by many steamer routes, and it 
was necessary to take double precau- 
tions. 

In addition to this, the weather grew 
extremely vicious. A rough sea began 
to rise. Heavy showers of hail came 

cm] 



Voyage of the Deutschlancl 

rattling down upon the decks, and the 
waves were lashed into foam. The 
wind increased to velocity 11 to 12. 

In the mighty vault above this seeth- 
ing ocean hung heavy, dun-colored 
masses of clouds which flung forth fal- 
low lightnings without pause — whole 
broadsides of lightnings. Then the 
skies suddenly sank back into stygian 
night while the ship and the surround- 
ing water went flaming up in greenish 
fire until every detail stood out in all 
its starkness. 

The whole heavens were now con- 
verted into a bellowing chaos. One 
single and unbroken salvo of crashing 
thunder went rolling over us. We 
reached the very center. A maniacal 
witch's dance of primeval tempests 
raged around the boat. It seemed to 
be the end of all things. Then sud- 

[112] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

denly behind us the top-lights of a 
great liner came into view. We were 
able to avoid her course owing to the 
darkness. She passed by some dis- 
tance away like a luminous apparition. 
Judging by her course, this passenger 
ship must have hailed from the Medi- 
terranean. I must confess that we fol- 
lowed her rows of lights with some 
little feeling of envy until the rain 
and the darkness once more swallowed 
her up. The storm reached its height 
on the following day. Hurricane blasts 
came sweeping along and the air was 
filled with unceasing showers of spray. 
The water no longer came down in 
threads. These were cascades; these 
were walls of water which came plung- 
ing down upon us, whipping our faces 
and hands until they smarted with 
pain. The rain was so thick that one 

8 [ 113 ] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

was no longer able to see. In order 
merely to see a yard or two, it was 
necessary to hold a small pane of glass 
in front of one's eyes — with the result 
that a small waterfall ran from the 
glass into one's sleeve,. 

The boat labored fearfully in this 
mad sea. The waves threw it back and 
forth, so that it creaked in every joint 
and rivet. Sometimes it heeled over 
to such an extent that one was scarce 
able to cling to the parapet of the 
"bath-tub." 

It was an inferno, pure and simple. 

But this was as nothing . compared 
to the hell down below, especially in 
the engine-room. 

This ferocious sea had naturally 
forced us to keep all openings battened 
down. Even the manhole in the tur- 
ret could only be kept open at inter- 

[114] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

vals. It is true that two large ventila- 
tion fans were going continuously, but 
the fresh air which they sucked down 
from the carefully protected ventila- 
tion shaft was at once devoured by the 
greedy Diesel motors. These hungry 
monsters out of sheer ingratitude, re- 
turned us nothing but heat — a heavy, 
oppressive heat, saturated with a 
frightful smell of oil, which the ven- 
tilating fans kept whipping and whirl- 
ing through all the chambers of the 
boat. A refreshing effect could hardly 
be expected from ventilation such as 
this! 

In addition to this, the air in the 
boat was saturated with moisture to 
an almost unbelievable degree. It no 
longer seemed possible to breathe and 
with a resigned hangman's humor we 
faced the moment which would con- 

[115] 



Voyage of the DeutscJdand 

vert us into fish. When the hatches 
are closed down, water is precipitated 
through all parts of the isolated body 
of the ship — a heavy sweat which the 
heat once more converts into vapor, 
until everything is soaked and grows 
mouldy. All the drawers and the 
doors of the cupboards swell and jam. 
Then there are the wet garments in 
which the watch descends from the 
turret, and these help to spread 
a pestilence through the narrow 
space. 

You can have no conception of the 
atmosphere that is evolved by degrees 
under these circumstances, nor of the 
hellish temperature which brews within 
the shell of steel. 

While in the Gulf Stream we had 
an outer temperature of 28° Celsius. 
This was about the warmth of the 

[116] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

f surrounding water. Fresh air no 
longer entered. In the engine-room 
two 6-cylinder combustion motors 
kept hammering away in a maddening 
two-four time. They hurled the power 
of their explosions into the whirling 
crank-shafts. The red-hot breath of 
the consumed gases went crashing out 
through the exhausts, but the glow of 
these incessant firings remained in the 
cylinders and communicated itself to 
the entire oil-dripping environment of 
steel. A choking cloud of heat and 
oily vapor streamed from the engines 
and spread itself like a leaden pres- 
sure through the entire ship. 

During these days the temperature 
mounted to 53° Celsius. 

And yet men lived and worked in a 
hell such as this ! The watch off duty, 
naked to the skin, groaned and writhed 

[117] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

in their bunks. It was no longer pos- 
sible to think of sleep. And when one 
of the men fell into a dull stupor, then 
he would be aroused by the sweat 
which ran incessantly over his forehead 
and into his eyes, and would awake to 
new torment. 

It was almost like a blessed deliver- 
ance when the eight hours of rest were 
over, and a new watch was called to 
the central or the engine-room. 

But there the real martyrdom began. 
Clad only in an undershirt and draw- 
ers, the men stood at their posts, a 
cloth wound about their foreheads to 
keep the running sweat from stream- 
ing into their eyes. Their blood ham- 
mered and raced in their temples. 
Every vein boiled as with fever. It 
was only by the exertion of the most 
tremendous will-power that it was pos- 

[118] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

sible to force the dripping human body 
to perform its mechanical duty and to 
remain upright during the four hours 
of the watch. . . . 

But how long would we be able to 
endure this? 

I no longer kept a log during these 
days and I find merely this one note: 
" Temperature must not rise any 
higher if the men are to remain any 
longer in the engine-room." 

But they did endure it. They re- 
mained erect like so many heroes, they 
did their duty, exhausted, glowing hot, 
and bathed in sweat, until the storm 
center lay behind us, until the weather 
cleared, until the sun broke through 
the clouds, and the diminishing seas 
permitted us once more to open the 
hatches. 

And then these men came up out of 

[119] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

their hell ; pale, streaming with oil and 
covered with grime, they came up to 
the light of day and rejoiced in the 
sunlight as though it shone for them 
for the first time. 



[120] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 



IX 



AMERICA 

While we had avoided all passing 
steamers upon the Atlantic, by adopt- 
ing another course when the weather 
permitted, and even risked being seen 
once or twice, we now dived without 
exception as soon as we saw a cloud 
of smoke upon the horizon. Under no 
circumstances did we wish to reveal 
our presence as we made for the region 
of the coast, since we had to reckon 
with the possibility of encountering 
enemy warships. 

On the 8th of July we began to no- 
tice by the color of the water that we 
could no longer be very distant from 
the goal of our voyage. 

[121] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

During the course of the afternoon, 
I consulted with my officers regard- 
ing the course toward Cape Henry, 
the southerly point of the two ranges 
of foothills which form the entrance 
to Hampton Roads and Chesapeake 
Bay. 

I was of the opinion that we should 
wait in deep water for the coming of 
the dawn at a distance of about ten 
miles from the American three-mile 
limit, and then assure ourselves as to 
whether any hostile measures had been 
taken against us. In case indefinite 
rumors of our voyage had leaked out, 
there was small doubt but that we 
would have to reckon with such meas- 
ures on the part of the enemy. 

Krapohl, on the other hand, pro- 
posed that we approach the coast as 
closely as possible under cover of the 

[122] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

night, and he was supported in this by 
Eyring. 

Both plans had their pros and cons, 
and so I decided to proceed further 
toward the coast in the dusk and then 
to wait and see what the weather con- 
ditions would turn out to be. 

The final decision was soon brought 
about by the coming up of a stiff 
southwest breeze. This gave us a good 
range of vision, which had not been 
the case with the summer weather that 
had hitherto prevailed. The breeze, 
however, also brought with it a violent 
rocking of our boat, which, with the 
short and choppy sea that now de- 
veloped, became extremely disagree- 
able. We therefore decided, without 
further hesitation and upon the basis 
pf exact astronomical calculations 
made a short time before, to steer at 

[123] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

night for the shore lights of Cape 
Henry and Cape Charles. 

We proceeded at once on our 
way. After some time, a pale glow 
became perceptible upon the horizon. 
It came up spasmodically and then 
vanished again. This was the glow 
of the revolving light upon Cape 
Henry. 

It was the first greeting from 
America. 

Suddenly, upon our starboard bow, 
a white light flashed up. It disap- 
peared instantly and then flickered up 
again several times. Immediately 
afterward another white light ap- 
peared off our port bow, and this re- 
mained fixed. 

We looked at one another. 

What the devil did this mean? It 
looked confoundedly as though war 

[124] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

vessels with blinded lights were mak- 
ing light signals to each other. 

At all events, we must keep an in- 
fernally sharp lookout. 

With engines going at half-speed, 
and submerged up to the turret, with 
all men at their diving-posts, we crept 
closer, keeping the sharpest lookout, 
and drilling into the darkness with 
our glasses. 

It was not long before we saw that 
the fixed light belonged to the top lan- 
tern of a harmless outcoming steamer, 
which passed us at a considerable dis- 
tance off-stern. Soon after this, where 
the flickering light had been, we saw 
the outlined sails of a three-masted 
schooner. As is the custom with many 
of these coasting vessels, she was sail- 
ing without side-lights and merely dis- 
played a white stern light from time 

[125] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

to time. It was these lights which we 
had mistaken for the signalling of 
warships. 

Considerably relieved, I ordered the 
engines full speed ahead. The reflex 
of the fixed light upon Cape Henry 
now came into view, while the inter- 
mittent blinking of Cape Charles grew 
brighter and brighter along the 
horizon. 

We now knew that we had set our 
course correctly. The entrance be- 
tween the two ranges of hills lay in 
front of us. 

Soon the beacon lights themselves 
came up above the horizon. An inde- 
scribable feeling possessed my heart. 
I saluted Cape Charles' flashing fire, 
its tireless blades of light were a silent, 
but unmistakable symbol of security 
amidst the dark infinity that sur- 

[126] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

rounded us. There, after our long and 
dangerous voyage, lay the land at last 
— our goal — America. 

We now began to pass the bobbing 
lantern-buoys of the channel. I recog- 
nized the well-known howling of a 
whistling buoy with which I was 
familiar from my former trips, and 
so the sense of hearing also contributed 
to the feeling that land was close at 
hand. 

After we had passed the whistling 
buoy we emerged completely. We now 
saw the lights of various passenger 
steamers. The steamers, however, did 
not observe us, as we still proceeded 
with blinded lights until we ran close 
off Cape Henry and had reached the 
American three-mile limit. 

This was on the 8th of July, at half- 
past eleven at night. 

[127] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

Once within the American neutrality 
zone, we set our lights, and made our 
way quietly into the entrance between 
the two capes until we made out the 
red and white top-lights of the pilot 
steamer. 

We stopped and burnt the customary 
blue fire. Hereupon the pilot boat at 
once directed its searchlight upon us, 
and as it was unable to see the outlines 
of a steamer, it approached us very 
carefully. 

Again and again the long luminous 
arm of the searchlight kept feeling the 
low deck and the turret of the Deutsch- 
land. 

The unexpected appearance of our 
boat seemed to have startled the good 
pilot to such an extent that it took him 
a long time to fire his question at us 
through the megaphone. 

[128] 







H d 5 § 



I § ft* 



«i "2 




Voyage of the Deutschland 

" Where are you bound for'?" 
"Newport News," we replied. 
He then inquired after the name of 
our ship, which we gave. But we were 
forced to repeat it twice before the 
men on the pilot boat were able to com- 
prehend what an unusual visitor lay 
before them. There must have been 
something of a sensation aboard that 
pilot-boat. 

A boat was quickly lowered, and as 
the pilot climbed over the round belly 
of the Deutschland up to our deck, he 
greeted us with these words, which 
must have come from the very depths 
of his heart: 

"I'll be damned, here she is!" 

Then he shook our hands again and 

again out of sheer honest heartiness, 

and gave vent to his genuine delight 

in being the first American to greet 

[ 129 ] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

the TJ -Deutschland, in the land of 
liberty. 

I at once asked our friend if he had 
heard anything of our being expected. 
Great was my joy and surprise when 
I learned that a tug-boat had been 
lying between the capes for the past few 
days, evidently looking for us. 

We at once got under way with our 
good pilot in order to look for this tug- 
boat. 

In the meantime, the incoming pas- 
senger steamers had also discovered 
the remarkable stranger. They lighted 
us up from all sides with their search- 
lights. And thus our arrival in Ameri- 
can waters resolved itself into a fan- 
tastic nocturne. 

The search for our tug-boat was, 
however, by no means easy in the dark- 
ness. We were obliged to search for a 

[130] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

long time and finally discovered the 
craft after two hours. 

She was the tow-boat Timmins, un- 
der command of Captain Hinsch, of 
the North German Lloyd. 

And now great was our joy. 

That valiant soul, Captain Hinsch, 
whose liner, the Neckar, has been lying 
in Baltimore since the outbreak of 
war, had waited for us more than ten 
days between the two capes. 

Our long absence had already caused 
him the greatest anxiety as to our fate. 

He was now unutterably happy to see 
his long-awaited protege safe and 
sound before him. He then communi- 
cated to us the order that we were to 
proceed to Baltimore instead of New- 
port News. Here everything had been 
prepared for our arrival. 

We now took farewell of our cheery 

[131] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

Newport News pilot, and made our 
way up Chesapeake Bay, accompanied 
by the Timmins. We proudly hoisted 
the German flag, which no doubt flut- 
tered for the first time in these waters 
since the Eitel Friedrich ran into 
Hampton Eoads. 

Thus in the gray of the morning, 
we entered the Bay. Our course gradu- 
ally became a triumphal procession. 
All the neutral steamers that we 
passed, American and others, saluted 
us with three blasts of their sirens and 
steam whistles. Only an English 
steamer swept by us in a poisonous 
silence, the while we let the black- white- 
red banner stream proudly in the wind. 
Captain Hinsch upon his tug-boat kejjt 
an eagle eye upon the Englishman, lest 
he should chance to slip his rudder a 
bit and ram us by mere accident. 

[ 132 ] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

The gallant Timmins was helpful to 
us in other ways. We were able to 
answer the greetings of the steamers 
only by means of our siren, which was 
operated with our precious compressed 
air. This would in the end, have be- 
come a rather expensive pleasure, and 
so the Timmins undertook the duty of 
making our responses with her big 
steam whistle. 

The farther we moved up the bay, 
the madder grew the noise. We were 
delighted beyond measure with this, 
for we could plainly perceive in this 
uproar the sympathies which the 
Americans cherished for us and our 
voyage. 

About four o'clock in the afternoon, 
the Timmins carefully came alongside. 
A block of ice was handed over to us, 
a couple of bottles of champagne were 

[133] 



Voyage of the DeutscMand 

rapidly cooled, and we proudly clinked 
our glasses to the safe arrival of 
the DeutscMand in America. We 
merely regretted that it was only the 
corks which popped over to Captain 
Hinsch. 

What this first iced drink meant to 
us can only be appreciated by him who 
is able to picture to himself what it 
means to have lived day after day in 
a temperature of 53° Celsius, 

The rumors of our arrival must have 
spread with miraculous rapidity, for 
to our great astonishment boats full of 
reporters and film operators began to 
meet us while we were still many miles 
from Baltimore. 

Although it was already growing 
dusk, we were nevertheless subjected 
to a violent bombardment by the 
cameras. We should also most likely 

[134] 



Voyage of the Beutschland 

have had to undergo an endless series 
of questions and calls had not the 
weather-god of Chesapeake Bay, cast- 
ing a hospitable eye upon our need of 
rest, come to our assistance. A heavy 
thunderstorm now broke and in place 
of a flood of questions, we scorched 
and tanned navigators were refreshed 
by a cooling flood of rain. The 
Deatschland, accompanied by the 
trusty Timmins, once more pursued 
her way, lonely and silent, through the 
falling night toward her final goal. 

At eleven o'clock at night we 
stopped at the Baltimore Quarantine 
Station, and our anchor rattled for the 
first time into American waters. 

TJ -Beutschland had arrived. 



[135] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 



BALTIMORE 

The first thing upon which our eyes 
fell on the following morning was the 
stout and stubby tug-boat Timmins, 
which had made fast alongside us. 
There lay the faithful vessel keeping 
watch over us. 

Soon after, about five o'clock, the 
physician of the Quarantine Station 
arrived. I at once handed to him the 
certificate of health which had been 
made out for us in due form on June 
13th, by Mr. William Thomas Fee, the 
American Consul at Bremen. Then 
the doctor overhauled the boat and 
passed us after he had mustered the 

[136] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

crew. Then, as the first American official 
to greet us, he called for three cheers 
for the Deutschland and her crew. 

Then we weighed anchor, and under 
the guidance of the Timmins, we pro- 
ceeded to our anchorage at Locust 
Point, where we were to discharge our 
cargo. 

No boat could have made her way- 
more safely than we under the protec- 
tion of the Timmins and the swarm of 
craft which had been hired by the film 
companies and now surrounded us. 
Five to six fellows stood, with cameras 
cocked, upon every one of these boats 
and did their best by means of cheery 
calls to induce us to assume more effec- 
tive poses — such as are suitable for the 
heroes of the " movies." 

"Show your face, Cap!" 

"Turn your head!" 

[137] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

"Wave your hand!" And other 
such cries echoed from all sides, and 
these enterprising chaps turned the 
cranks of their machines like mad. 

I stood on the turret and looked 
toward the left, and then I looked 
toward the right, and then I waved 
one hand and then the other. A re- 
quest to smile was scarcely necessary, 
for the actions of the "movie" men 
were uncommonly funny. 

And so we reached our anchorage at 
Locust Point in the best possible 
spirits. 

Here everything had been prepared 
by Captain Hinsch through weeks of 
careful work. The Deutschland found 
the snuggest and safest kind of a berth 
here. It was so thoroughly protected 
from all outside approach by means of 
nets and beams that the boat seemed 

[138] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 



safe from all harm through human 
agency. 

We lay alongside a wooden pier 
which was built out into the stream, 
and under cover of a large shed, in 
which the goods we were to carry 
back already lay stored. This region 
was so little frequented that communi- 
cation between the pier and the nearest 
good street had first to be established. 

The entire place toward the land 
side was cut off by a large ditch and 
barbed wire entanglements. 

In the river the Deutschland was 
protected on one side by the pier and 
the North German Lloyd steamer 
Neckar. The Neckar had lain in Balti- 
more since the outbreak of war. It 
was now to serve as our home. Prom 
here we could always keep an eye on 
the Deutschland. 

[139] 



Voyage of the Deutscliland 

On the other side, the Beutschland 
was surrounded by an entire system 
of heavy beams, with strong nets, 
which reached to the bottom, so that 
it would have been impossible for even 
a diver to approach the vessel. In ad- 
dition to this, there were several boats 
which mounted guard day and night, 
among them the Timmins, which would 
keep her tireless little searchlight play- 
ing over the entire vicinity all night long. 

Nevertheless, there were several de- 
lightful little interludes. In order that 
the discharging and loading of the 
cargo might go on unobserved, a high 
fence had been built all around the 
shed. This rendered it impossible to 
see anything of the ship or the freight 
pier. 

The only opportunity for having a 
look at the wonder-boat, and that at a 

[140] 



Voyage of the Deutscldand 

considerable distance, was offered by 
a pile-driver which lay anchored in the 
stream. This was soon utilized by the 
newspaper reporters as a post of obser- 
vation. Here they began to make their 
perch, never taking their eyes from 
us. They did regular sentry duty. 
Two men were always crouched on top 
of the swaying framework by day and 
by night, in the self -sacrificial exer- 
cise of their profession. 

We, too, established our sentries. At 
night, when the watch was changed 
upon the pile-driver across the way, 
the searchlight operator aboard the 
Timmins would amuse himself by flash- 
ing his light in that direction, courte- 
ously escorting these gentlemen upon 
their risky climb. As they clambered 
down from the framework, the rays 
would follow and outline them, one 

[141] 



Voyage of the Deutscliland 

after the other, like spiders under a 
pocket flash-lamp. 

Captain Hinsch had simply pro- 
vided for everything, from our recep- 
tion and safe conduct to our housing 
and provisioning upon the Neckar. 

The only means of access to the 
Deutscliland was by way of this 
steamer — at JLeast for those few priv- 
ileged people who were permitted to 
view the vessel — if only from without. 
Otherwise, all visits to the boat were 
strictly forbidden. Of course, we 
should have been quite happy to show 
off this child of our pride to all comers, 
but, in view of the danger of sabotage 
which might accrue to the first Ger- 
man submarine freight boat from an 
indiscriminate public inspection, we 
were forced on principle to adhere to 
our refusals, and so hundreds of Amer- 

[142] 




Up the AM 
The Deutschland receiving ovatiJ 







) Bremen 

a triumphant return to Germany 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

icans, who had come in automobiles, 
sometimes from great distances, even 
from Western states, in order to 
have a look at the Deutschland, were 
forced, to our own deep regret, to go 
their ways without achieving their 
purpose. 

The film companies, however, were 
able to score a triumph. I fulfilled 
their desire to immortalize the entire 
crew upon their first treading Ameri- 
can soil. And so I permitted myself 
and my men to be taken outside in a 
proud group. 

My first trip to the city resembled 
a triumphal procession. The auto was 
obliged to halt every moment, and I 
was congratulated upon all sides, and 
everybody wished to shake my hand. 
I grew to be a sort of obstruction to traf- 
fic during those first days in Baltimore. 

[143] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

Thus I slowly made my way to the 
agency of the North German Lloyd. 
This was surrounded by dense masses 
of people. 

It was first necessary to make the 
usual declaration. I went to the Cus- 
tom House authorities and made the 
necessary visits. I was greeted every- 
where in the heartiest manner. 

Then I went back to the Agency, and 
summoned up my entire stock of sea- 
man's resolutions in order to devote my- 
self to the press. I took up my posi- 
tion behind a barrier, that is to say, 
behind the counter of the Passenger 
Office before which an enormous crowd 
was pushing. I was quite alone, and 
held my defences against hundreds — 
men and women, each of whom wanted 
to know something different, each of 
whom asked me questions, from the 

[ 144 ] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

most insignificant personalities to ques- 
tions of higher politics. 

One lady cried: "Do, Captain, tell 
me, what is it like in a submarine? 
. . . " Another asked, full of sym- 
pathy: "Say, is it true that in Ger- 
many the babies are starving for want 
of milk?" A prosperous looking man 
proclaimed his interest in the problems 
of diet by demanding: "Say, Captain, 
what did you live on?" 

I was also frequently asked: "What 
about the Kaiser's message you brought 
over for Mr. Wilson?" I was as little 
able to reply to this question as to that 
other, so frequently put: "When do 
you expect to leave Baltimore again?" 

And I was supposed to answer hun- 
dreds of similar questions with my one 
poor little voice. I stood there like a 
breakwater and the floods went surg- 

10 [ 145 ] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

ing about me, mounting higher and 
higher, until my whole spiritual ego 
was swallowed up, only to re-appear 
the next day in fragments scattered 
throughout the press of two hemi- 
spheres. 

My body, however, somewhat wearily 
obeyed an invitation of the German 
club where our arrival was celebrated 
in exclusive German circles, and where 
we spoke with love and pride of the 
battling Fatherland. 



The following days were to become 
one continual festival for us. Only 
those who know American hospitality 
and American enthusiasm can form an 
idea of the hearty reception we were 
given everywhere. People's heads were 
quite turned. It did one good to see 

[146] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

with how much open and honest sym- 
pathy our voyage and safe arrival 
were regarded by the Americans, and 
how this sympathy was expressed with 
the most unrestrained rapture. 

Wherever we went, we were greeted 
in the most fervent fashion. Our 
hands w T ere shaken. The "Wacht am 
Rhein" was sung and wildly enthusi- 
astic ovations were given us every- 
where. It simply snowed invitations 
upon the officers and crew. Festivals 
and parties were arranged for us, and 
on one occasion, when two of my of- 
ficers of the watch, accompanied by a 
friend, were recognized in a large pub- 
lic resort, the concert music suddenly 
stopped, the limelight was thrown upon 
these gentlemen, and amidst tremendous 
jubilation the band played " America" 
and the "Wacht am Rhein." 

[147] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

While the people of the United 
States, of all classes and conditions, 
were thus recording their unrestrained 
admiration for the Deutschland, the 
American Government had also taken 
up an official position in regard to 
the question whether our boat was 
to be considered a merchant vessel 
or whether, as expressed in the em- 
phatic protest of the British and 
French Ambassadors, it was to be 
considered in the nature of a war 
vessel. 

A Government Commission of three 
American naval officers came down 
from Washington on July 12th. They 
were to make a most detailed inspec- 
tion of the Deutschland. Since we had 
absolutely no armament of any nature, 
and no provisions for mounting any on 
board, we were able to show these gen- 

[148] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

tlemen everything with absolute confi- 
dence. 

After an examination of three hours, 
which covered every nook and corner 
of the boat, and which cost the par- 
ticipants much perspiration in crawl- 
ing about the hot and glowing steel 
hull, the Commission confirmed the 
purely mercantile character of the U- 
Deutschland. These gentlemen were 
full of intense admiration for the 
genius shown in the construction of 
the entire boat, and were particularly 
impressed by the staggering fact of 
the complicated nature of the entire 
mechanism. 

The numerous German- Americans in 
Baltimore organized Br German Festi- 
val in honor of the entire crew and for 
the benefit of the Red Cross. This 
event took place in Cannstadter Park, 

[149] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

a large popular resort near Baltimore. 
There were rifle-ranges, booths for 
raffles, an open-air stage, a dancing 
pavilion and similar amusements in the 
open. I must say that our men showed 
off well at these affairs. They stood 
the homage which was given them in 
good style and displayed little shyness. 
When it came to dancing, they swung 
a leg with the best of them. I saw a 
couple of my fine fellows dancing with 
the ladies of our host's family as 
though they had done nothing else all 
their lives. 

The whole constituted for us legen- 
dary seafarers one single, solid ova- 
tion of overpowering kindliness. Hun- 
dreds surrounded us and toasted 
us again and again, and clamored 
for a word with each and every one 
of us. 

[150] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

Of course, I was especially singled 
out for these attentions. I was sup- 
posed to shake the hand of all the par- 
ticipants at this festival — this finally 
developed into a universally expressed 
desire. 

The problem was not an easy one to 
solve. With, considerable embarrass- 
ment, I looked around me and saw the 
countless hands which were stretched 
toward me, and gazed upon the faces 
of that vast crowd of gay and excited 
people who seethed about me. 

At last the following plan was de- 
vised. I was put into a Committee 
automobile and the crowd was made 
to defile before me between Masters of 
Ceremony in the shape of policemen. 
I was thus able to shake the hand of 
everyone who went by. This proces- 
sion lasted over an hour and a half, 

[151] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

during which time I shook hands with- 
out pausing. 

I marvel that my two hands are 
still attached to my arms. 

On July 20th, the Deutschland re- 
ceived a visit from Count Bernstorff, 
the German Ambassador, who had 
come to Baltimore with several gentle- 
men from the summer seat of the Em- 
bassy. We showed them our faithful 
boat, whose inspection amidst the pro- 
cess of loading the cargo and in a ter- 
rific heat was scarcely an unalloyed 
pleasure. 

On the evening of the same day, an 
official dinner was given by the M^or 
of Baltimore in honor of the presence 
of the German Ambassador. This had 
been preceded by a small lunch in the 
select precincts of the Germania club- 
house. The dinner given by the Mayor, 

[152] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

a most charming gentleman, was of an 
exclusively political nature, and was 
attended only by politicians and official 
personages. There was a long series 
of excellent courses and of drinks, and, 
according to American custom, the 
close of the dinner and the appearance 
of innumerable new drinks were the 
occasion for a number of speeches. In 
these the arrival of the Deutschland in 
America, the significance of this event 
to the city of Baltimore and for 
friendly German- American relations 
were duly celebrated. 

Then the city band came into the 
garden and played the "Wacht am 
Rhein" and the American National 
Hymn, while the crossed American and 
German flags were unfolded. 

This was a very pretty symbol of 
friendship and understanding between 

[153] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

the two peoples, both of whose inter- 
ests are bound up in the freedom of 
the seas. 



While all these festivities were un- 
der way, and all our evenings thus 
employed, our cargo had been dis- 
charged and the stowing away of the 
new cargo had begun. 

This is quite a chapter by itself. 

Messrs. Paul G. L. and H. G. Hilken, 
two gentlemen who represent the 
North German Lloyd in Baltimore, 
had done their very utmost to lighten 
this most delicate part of our task and 
insure its success. 

They had not only provided in all 
secrecy the necessary goods w T hich were 
to constitute our return cargo, but they 
had already had these stored in the 
sheds ready for loading. It was a most 

[154] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

impressive-looking pile and, on view- 
ing it, one might well have doubted 
whether it would be possible to stow 
it all within the limits of one U-boat. 
Our friends had also seen to it that 
the special stevedores were at hand. 

The entire work upon the boat and 
on the freight pier was carried out by 
negroes, whose slight degree of educa- 
tion and weak powers of observation 
were in this case a special recommen- 
dation. In addition to this, the ne- 
groes were thoroughly searched every 
time before beginning work, being 
forced to strip — all this in order to 
protect the boat from any premedi- 
tated outrage. 

The discharging of the cargo was 
completed without any difficulty. 

For those who are accustomed to 
the unloading of cargoes, a singular 

[155] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

picture presented itself. Usually there 
are great derricks, steel windlasses and 
hydraulic cranes, and the heavy goods 
and cases are hoisted up out of the 
dark ship's hold amidst hubbub, 
thumpings and hissings. Stevedores 
and foremen stand beside yawning 
openings and shout in an inarticulate 
speech. Here, on the other hand, there 
were two small wooden hoists erected 
above the ordinary hatches of the U- 
boat, and these, with their neat little 
electric windlasses, did swift work. 
The goods came rushing up into the 
daylight in little sacks and chests, 
rapidly and noiselessly, almost as in 
a doll's theater. There was something 
miniature in the unloading of the U- 
boat in this manner. 

It was really astonishing to observe 
the quantity of goods that piled them- 

[156] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

selves up on the pier, all of which had 
been fetched up out of the insignifi- 
cant-looking whale-back through the 
narrow hatches. 

The loading of the vessel was much 
more difficult. Special calculations had 
to be made for this by our submarine 
expert and " Master of U-boat car- 
goes," ship-architect Pruss of the Grer- 
mania Yards. Every kilogram or 
pound of the cargo, differing so greatly 
in weight and bulk, had to be stowed 
away in some carefully calculated po- 
sition, so as not to influence unfavor- 
ably the trimming of the vessel. 

Careful storage was, moreover, of the 
utmost importance as the space avail- 
able is, after all, more or less limited, 
and every case and every sack must 
be firmly fixed in position. Otherwise 
it might happen that the most dis- 

[157] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

agreeable surprises would befall us 
during a storm, a sudden dive with a 
strong list, or other incidents. These 
might, by hindering our ability to 
manoeuvre, lead to disaster. 

A loading of this kind is therefore 
a very tedious one. The entire freight, 
sacks and boxes, must be passed into 
the narrow hatches by the negroes, af- 
ter being weighed. Piece by piece 
the goods are placed upon the scales, 
the weights noted by the tally-meter 
and then called out and checked up in 
special lists. 

These lists or tables were all studied 
out according to a theoretical plan. The 
efficiency of this plan was then tested 
by a trial dive and trimming test. There 
was just enough depth at our anchor- 
age for us to carry this out. 

For this trial dive all the men were 

[ 158 ]! 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

ordered to their stations. The sub- 
mersion tanks were slowly opened and 
the boat was filled with just enough 
water to cause it to float with the 
hatch of the turret appearing above 
the surface. 

In this position, the body of the 
boat was made to oscillate by ballast- 
ing the two trimming-tanks in different 
ways. This permitted us to judge 
whether the burdens in the boat had 
been properly distributed. In case 
there had been any shifting of the 
weights, the cargo must have been 
stowed anew. A final dive and trim- 
ming test was then necessary in order 
to see that the lading of the boat was 
correct in every detail. 

Those two thousand tons in their 
swaying and fluid element were brought 
to a most delicate and absolute balance. 

[159] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 



XI 



FAREWELL TO BALTIMORE 

I should like to set a motto above 
this description of our return trip. 
The words are taken from the London 
Morning Post of July 18th, and refer 
to the attitude assumed by the British 
Government with regard to the 
Deutschland. 

"The Deutschland, in consequence 
of its character as a submarine, is to 
be regarded as a war vessel and is to 
be treated as such. The warships of 
the Allies will, therefore, seek every 
opportunity to waylay the vessel be- 
yond the American three-mile limit and 
will sink it without warning." 

[160] 




I 

pa 

w 
W 

Eh 



w 

Q 

So 

Q 
«! 

o 
pa. 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

Thus ran a cable dispatch which 
reached America from London on July 
19th. And such were the words which 
we read for ourselves in a copy of the 
Morning Post which was sent to us 
toward the end of July. 

This at least had the advantage of 
letting us know precisely what we had 
to expect. 

Never had the English point of view, 
in all its brutality, been more clearly 
displayed. 

We had no torpedo-tubes and no can- 
nons on board. We had not the slight- 
est possible means of making an at- 
tack. We did not even carry arms 
with which to defend ourselves, some- 
thing which is permitted to every Eng- 
lish merchant vessel; moreover, the 
biggest of the neutral powers had ex- 
pressly recognized us as a merchant 

[ 161 ] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

vessel, and yet we were to be sunk 
without warning! 

We knew, therefore, what lay before 
us. 

It had also become known that eight 
enemy war vessels with lookout boats 
and nets had assembled in front of 
Chesapeake Bay in order to capture 
us as soon as we left the American 
three-mile limit and to shatter us to 
pieces with mines like some blind fish. 

Caution was, therefore, imperative — 
we should have to worm our way 
through with true U-boat craftiness. 

But we also knew how to get the 
best of these English and French ef- 
forts as we had done once before. The 
penetration of the English blockade 
outward-bound from Europe had not 
been precisely a walk-over. 

[162] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

Nothing had tickled us more than to 
read the brilliant explanation which 
had been launched by Captain Gaunt 
of the British General Consulate in 
New York, when the first rumors of 
the voyage of a German U-boat to 
America had cropped up. Captain 
Gaunt is the naval expert at the Con- 
sulate, and the good man ought to 
know. He pacified the English pub- 
lic as follows: "It is impossible to send 
a submarine to America. Should the 
Germans, nevertheless, venture to try 
it we should seize it. A large sub- 
marine leaves a trail of oil and ma- 
chine-grease on the water behind it. 
This trail can be followed by our swift 
cruisers and it is a dead certainty that 
they will capture the submarine." 

"We had, therefore, merely to see to 
it that our "capture" this second time 

[163] 



Voyage of the DeutscMand 

would prove to be this "dead cer- 
tainty. " 

The first of August had arrived. We 
had taken hearty farewells of every- 
one. All the formalities with the au- 
thorities had been settled and we were 
free to put out to sea to keep our dates 
with the gentlemen that prowled about 
the entrance of the Bay. 

Our departure was delayed, as we 
had to wait for high water in order to 
make our way out of the Patapsco 
River, upon which Baltimore is situ- 
ated, over the intervening mud-bank 
into Chesapeake Bay. The tide rose 
very slowly on this day, as there was 
a north wind blowing, which was in- 
clined to keep the stream from reach- 
ing Baltimore up the long, narrow 
Bay. 

We anxiously awaited the rising of 

[164] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

the water, and at last, at 3:20 in the 
afternoon, the moment had arrived. 
The lines were cast off — slowly the en- 
closing sentinel vessels opened out and 
majestically the Deutschland pushed 
her way from the pier into the channel. 
The tug Timmins steamed along beside 
us like a faithful shepherd-dog and 
seemed to growl whenever the numer- 
ous small and large boats loaded with 
reporters and film operators ap- 
proached too closely. 

There was nothing to fear. The 
boat of the Baltimore harbor-police had 
been kindly assigned to accompany us, 
and a Maryland revenue cutter had 
received orders to escort us to the 
limits of its territory. 

Hundreds of people stood upon the 
banks of the Patapsco River. They 
waved to us and saluted our departure 

[165] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

with constant cheers. All the tugs in 
the harbor set up a howling with their 
sirens and their whistles; the steamers 
dipped their flags and hooted; it was 
an appalling hubbub. But we knew, 
as we went on and outward, that in- 
numerable hearts throughout this vast 
America accompanied us with their 
blessings and were waiting anxiously 
for the moment which would bring to 
them the certainty of our successful 
escape. 

As soon as we reached the open 
waterway and set the engines going at 
full speed, our escorts gradually 
dropped behind ; even the Timmins had 
all it could do to keep up. We re- 
marked the slow speed of the Ameri- 
can boats ; the cheers grew weaker and 
weaker, the boats fewer and fewer, and 
finally only the revenue cutter re- 

[166] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

mained. After this craft had van- 
ished, about seven o'clock, we should 
have been alone with the Timmins had 
there not been another mysterious es- 
cort which could not so easily be shaken 
off. 

This was a swift gray boat with a 
pointed snout and a flat, short stern, 
a sort of overgrown racing boat, of 
which it was rumored that it held some 
eighty horse-power in its belly, and 
could set up a pace of 22 miles. It 
was supposed to have been hired some 
ten days before by a certain gentleman, 
who paid the round sum of $200 per 
day, from which it was to be seen 
how highly this gentleman estimated 
the possibility of announcing his purely 
sporting interest by a match between 
his racer and the Deutschland. 

In consciousness of its superior 

[167] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

speed, the pretty boat went pirouetting 
all around us. It described most ad- 
mirable circles and curves ; it cut capri- 
oles, it buzzed about us like a blue- 
bottle and its high spirits were really 
alarming. The good old Timmins 
might growl as threateningly as you 
please with its steam siren and fling 
out angry clouds of smoke, but the 
eighty horse-power hummer hung on 
and would not be driven off. 

We proceeded thus until nightfall. 

Then, about eight o'clock, a slight 
breeze began to blow and it was not 
long before a low swell came up — a 
merry swell, which splashed gaily 
against the bows of the Deutschland. 

Our blue-bottle friend had, in the 
meantime, hung out his lights, quite 
according to regulations, and we heard 
the water splashing about his bows as 

[168] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

well. But he no longer raced about 
us, but went spattering along in our 
wake. It was a pretty sight to see his 
colored lights dancing behind us, or 
disappearing and reappearing amid 
the illuminated foam and the spray — 
growing ever more distant. 

At ten o'clock there was a pretty 
neat little sea under way. The lights 
had dwindled to little points far astern, 
and as the gray dawn came up, the sea 
was clear; our little friend had evi- 
dently flown back home. 

However, a great number of fishing- 
trawlers soon came looming up out of 
the gray murk so that we were some- 
what fearful of running into a regular 
trap — even here amidst these neutral 
waters. 

But loud hurrahs and waving of 
hands from these vessels soon enlight- 

[169] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

ened us. It was a company of Ameri- 
can press representatives who had not 
hesitated to make this nightly trip, 
together with a number of admirers 
and friends of the Deutschland, 
in order to offer final greetings to our 
boat some fifty miles out from Balti- 
more. 

One steamer after another glided 
past us, and by six o'clock in the morn- 
ing we were travelling in such free 
water that we were able to make our 
first diving-trial. After our long spell 
ashore, I wished to get the crew and 
the boat once more well in hand — 
merely on account of that "dead cer- 
tain" capture. 

So we underwent our first diving 
trial and everything went without a 
hitch. The Timmins remained in the 
neighborhood. Captain Hinsch told 

[170] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

me later that it was a startling sight 
to see the Deutschland sink away so 
silently, only to come pushing out of 
the water a few moments later with a 
foaming wave across her bows. 

So the dive was a success. In order 
to see that everything else was tight 
and in good order, I gave the com- 
mand to set the boat upon the sea 
bottom at a spot which, according to 
the reading upon the chart, had a 
depth of some 30 meters. 

Once again everything grew silent. 
The daylight vanished, the well-known 
singing and boiling noise of the sub- 
merging vents vibrated about us. In 
my turret I fixed my eyes upon the 
manometer. Twenty meters were re- 
corded, then 25. The water ballast 
was diminished — 30 meters appeared 
and I waited the slight bump which 

[171] 



Voyage of the Beutschland 

was to announce the arrival of the boat 
at the bottom. . . . 

Nothing of the sort happened. 

Instead of this the indicator upon 
the dial pointed to 32— to 33— to 35 
meters. . . . 

I knocked against the glass with my 
finger — correct — the arrow was just 
pointing toward 36. 

" Great thunder! what's up?" I 
cried, and reached for the chart. 
Everything tallied. Thirty meters 
were indicated at this spot and our 
reckoning had been most exact. . . . 

And we continued to sink deeper 
and deeper. 

The dial w r as now announcing 40 
meters. 

This was a bit too much for me. I 
called down to the central and got 
back the comforting answer that the 

[172] 



Voyage of the Deutscliland 

large manometer was also indicating 
a depth of over 40 meters! 

The two manometers agreed. 

This, however, did not prevent the 
boat from continuing to sink. 

The men in the central began to 
look at one another. . . . 

Ugh! it gives one a creepy feeling 
to go slipping away into the unknown 
amidst this infernal singing silence 
and to see nothing but the climbing 
down of the confounded indicator upon 
the white-faced dial. . . . 

There was nothing else to be seen in 
my turret. I glanced at the chart and 
then at the manometer in a pretty help- 
less fashion. 

In the meantime the boat sank 
deeper; 45 meters were passed — the 
pointer indicated 48 meters. I began 
to think the depth of the Chesapeake 

[173] 



Voyage of the DeutscMand 

Bay must have some limit; we surely 
could not be heading for the bottom- 
less pit? Then — the boat halted at a 
depth of 50 meters without the slight- 
est shock. 

I climbed down into the central and 
took counsel with Klees and the two 
officers of the watch. 

There could be only one explana- 
tion; we must have sunk into a hole 
which had not been marked upon the 
chart. 

Well, that did not matter much after 
all. It was a matter of indifference to 
us whether we ascended from a depth 
of 30 meters or one of 50. 

I was just about to give the com- 
mand to rise, when my eye fell upon 
the box compass which, with its deli- 
cate tremblings of the black and white 
dial, had always been accustomed to 

[174] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

hang so cheerily in its little illumin- 
ated house. . ., . 

I started back. . . . Donnerwetter! 
What did this mean? 

The dial of the compass had become 
insane and was turning itself like mad 
upon its own axis without pause ! . . . 

Things were beginning to look un- 
comfortable. 

As our box-compass was about the 
most reliable thing you could have 
found in all the world, and as the bot- 
tom of the Chesapeake Bay at a depth 
of 50 meters could not possibly have 
begun to rotate about us, there was 
only one conclusion to be arrived at — 
a most disquieting conclusion. . . . 

We were cheerfully turning about 
in a circle in this hole of ours — and 
only the devil knew why. 

I at once ordered the exhaust pumps 

[175] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

to begin their work. They took up 
their purring song, it is true — but in 
a lighter key and with an empty note. 
The pumps had no effect. We contin- 
ued to stick in the mud — we did not 
move an inch. 

This seemed to be the last straw, 
and I must say none of us was any 
too cheerful about the matter. 

In the meantime we had sunk still 
deeper — according to the manometer. 
But now the revolving motion ceased 
and we lay perfectly quiet. 

I once more gave the command — 
most energetically — to rise at once. 

The pumps began to purr again, but 
once more they ran empty. 

So that was no good. 

We should have to proceed with quiet 
deliberation, otherwise we should still 
be in the same spot to-morrow. 

[176] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

After a good deal of working about, 
Engineer Klees finally succeeded in 
making the pumps act. 

They began to force the water out 
of the tanks with a deep, hoarse note. 
They were working! Our eyes were 
fixed as if fascinated upon the index 
of the manometer. Hurrah! We were 
getting free, we were mounting. The 
indicator pointed to 49 meters. . . . 
Then once more I thought I could 
hardly believe my eyes. What the 
devil was up now? . . . The mano- 
meter suddenly announced 20 meters, 
then it went back to 49 — then once 
more sprang up to 20 — and so on and 
so on. 

Things now began to be really criti- 
cal. We stared at one another and 
were at our wits' end. We no longer 
knew what was the matter with the 



12 



[177] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

boat and everything else — we no longer 
knew at what depth we were lying. 
Even the manometer had now gone 
crazy ! 

In order fully to comprehend what 
this meant, you must remember that 
the men in a submerged submarine 
know nothing and see nothing except 
what the pointer of the manometer 
tells them. This is the only thing they 
can depend upon. When this ceases 
to function properly, you can only 
grope about in uncertainty. 

Although our situation had become 
highly precarious, a stony calm pre- 
vailed in the boat. We were aware 
that in case the worst happened, we 
could still have recourse to the com- 
pressed air, which would have flung 
us toward the surface, even though 
the pumps did not work. 

[178] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

But this measure was not necessary. 
Klees had been thinking deeply. Then 
he darted for a lever. There was a 
rush and a roar of compressed air. 
The manometer made a wild kick 
toward 120 meters, and then whirled 
back to 49 — and the plug of mud which 
had stopped up the opening of the man- 
ometer from without was instantly 
blown away with a whiff of compressed 
air. 

We also cleared all the exhaust pipes 
outside through the application of com- 
pressed air. They had become clogged 
with slime, which had been stirred up 
by our dizzy dance. Then the exhaust 
pumps began to drone in their good 
old fashion and obediently the Deutsch- 
land went soaring toward the surface. 

We had lain along the bottom over 
an hour and a half. 

[179] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

Captain Hinsch came alongside in the 
Timmins. He was vastly relieved. He 
had been unable to account for our long 
submersion, and bad been greatly 
troubled about us. We must have blun- 
dered into a kind of pit, in which the 
sand "ground," as in a mill, and into 
which we had gradually burrowed 
through the circular movements which 
had stirred up the slime and the mud. 
I now stationed the Timmins at two 
miles distance, so that she might ob- 
serve one final and important trial dive. 

I desired to rise to the surface with- 
out moving forward, so that only the 
periscope would appear above the sur- 
face. This is not so easy as it sounds. 
When the submarine ascends under 
power with the aid of the diving rud- 
ders, it is, of course, much easier to 
assume a certain position, but in this 

[180] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

case the periscopes draw a small wake 
of foam along the surface and this, 
under certain circumstances, might 
prove most treacherous. 

We therefore made the attempt to 
rise from a greater depth by means of 
balancing and by exhausting and refill- 
ing the tanks, in order to float in such 
a position as merely to show our peri- 
scopes above water and absolutely ver- 
tical. 

The attempt was successful. We 
managed to protude our periscope 
feelers without attracting the notice 
of the Timmins which knew, of course, 
about where we were lying. It was 
only after the turret had emerged that 
she saw us. 

I now had the certainty that we 
were prepared for all eventualities and 
might attempt to break through with- 

[181] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

out being observed. So we proceeded 
quietly upon our course, accompanied 
by the Timmins. Just before the com- 
ing of dusk, we reached the opening 
between the two capes. 



[182] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 



XII 

BREAKING THROUGH 

The night had already come as we 
approached the dangerous region. In 
front of us sparkled the fixed beacon 
on Cape Henry, while upon our port 
Cape Charles sent its lightnings 
through the darkness at brief inter- 
vals. At the apex of this triangle, we 
proceeded quietly toward the momen- 
tous division. 

Suddenly two searchlights upon our 
starboard flashed across the water. The 
infernal beams of light ran madly, 
searching across the dark floods. Me- 
chanically I counted a few seconds. 
Then the core of the light pierced full 
into my eyes. . . . 

[183] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

There was no longer time to dive, 
and the betraying glare remained fixed 
upon the Deutschland. 

We two men upon the turret looked 
at each other for a moment. In this 
beautiful free illumination our ex- 
pressions were quite visible. 

Then we saw the two beams of the 
searchlight, after they had ascertained 
our presence, sweep twice toward the 
zenith and suddenly go out. After we 
had once more accustomed our eyes to 
the darkness, we discovered two dark 
craft upon our starboard. They looked 
like fishing trawlers. 

"The damned villains!" I heard 
Krapohl murmur at my side. "They 
have betrayed us!" 

I am sorry to say that he was right. 

For the shaft of a mighty search- 
light now rose vertically into the air, 

[184] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

obviously as a signal for the English 
cruisers waiting outside. 

I knew that it was now or never. 

I gave the command: " Clear ship 
for diving! Submerge to 18 meters." 

"We at once took our course toward 
the south. 

After half an hour we emerged 
again, as I wished once more to get 
my exact bearings. Wr scarcely had 
time, however, to cast a look around, 
before we were forced to evade a 
threatening danger by a rapid dive. 
For hardly two hundred yards across 
our bows, we saw the patroling Ameri- 
can armored cruiser come rushing on. 

The cruiser had also seen these con- 
spicuous light signals and had come to 
keep an eye on proceedings along the 
American three-mile limit. According 
to the newspaper reports, this armored 

[185] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

cruiser had aeroplanes aboard and had 
been ordered to carry out certain naval 
exercises in Chesapeake Bay. I am 
nevertheless inclined to the opinion 
that the American Government had or- 
dered the vessel to patrol the three- 
mile limit in order to observe what 
happened when we made for the sea. 
I am also personally firmly convinced 
that the splendid spirit which pre- 
vails among the officers and crew of 
the American Navy would have re- 
sulted in this cruiser taking energetic 
action against any violation of the in- 
ternational limits, and not contented 
itself with mere observation. 

That such a violation was not by any 
means impossible, and that it was pre- 
vented upon this memorable night 
merely by the resolute attitude of this 
American warship, appears the more 

[186] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

probable from the following circum- 
stance: Some days before our depart- 
ure, an English cruiser had passed 
Cape Henry at night during a fog, had 
gone searching about the whole of 
Chesapeake Bay in the most shameless 
manner, and then, without disclosing 
its identity, had steamed away. 

In the meantime, we had forced our 
boat into the depths with a great list 
forward. We rose to the surface only 
after the rumble of the screws of the 
American vessel had died away in the 
distance. 

We knew that the most dangerous 
moment of our entire voyage was now 
approaching. We once more marked 
our exact position, and then proceeded 
to make all the preparations necessary 
for our breaking through. 

Then we dived and drove forward. 

[187] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

All our senses were keyed to the ut- 
most, our nerves taut to the breaking- 
point with that cold excitement which 
sends quivers through one's soul, the 
while outwardly one remains quite se- 
rene, governed by that clear and icy 
deliberation which is apt to possess a 
man who is fully conscious of the un- 
known perils toward which he goes. . . . 

We knew our path. We had already 
been informed that fishermen had been 
hired to spread their nets along cer- 
tain stretches of the three-mile limit; 
nets in which we were supposed to en- 
tangle ourselves ; nets into which devil- 
ish mines had very likely been 
woven. . . . 

Possibly these nets were merely at- 
tached to buoys which we were then 
supposed to drag along after us, thus 
betraying our position. . . . 

[188] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

We were prepared for all emergen- 
cies, so that in case of extreme 
necessity we should be able to free 
ourselves of the nets. But all went 
well. 

It was a dark night. Quietly and 
peacefully the lighthouses upon the 
two capes sent forth their light, the 
while a few miles further out death lay 
lowering for us in every imaginable 
form. 

But while the English ships were 
racing up and down, jerking their 
searchlights across the waters and 
searching again and again in every im- 
aginable spot, they little surmised that, 
at times within the radius of their own 
shadows, a periscope pursued its silent 
way, and under this periscope — the 
U-Deutschland. 

That night at twelve o'clock, after 

[189] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

hours of indescribable tension, I gave 
the command to rise. 

We Had Broken Through! 

Slowly the Deutschland rose to the 
surface, the tanks were blown out and 
the Diesel engines flung into their 
gearing. At our highest speed we 
now went rushing toward the free 
Atlantic. Behind us to the northwest 
the Britishers were still searching the 
waters with whole sheaves of search- 
lights. I dare say they must have got 
very nervous toward the end. 



[190] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 



XIII 

HOMEWARD BOUND 

Never before had the Deutschland 
traveled at such speed as during those 
early morning hours of the 3rd of 
August. She swept onward in a won- 
derful way, flinging up a broad strip 
of foam to either side. The engines 
chanted in most beautiful harmony; 
the combustion was perfect and there 
was not the slightest vapor visible at 
the exhausts, so that even Mr. Kissling 
himself w r as highly satisfied, and al- 
most went so far in an access of uncon- 
scious tenderness as to stroke the rods 
of his beloved motors. 

"When the sun rose, the coast had 
long since vanished in the gray mist, 

[191] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

and there was not a single craft visible. 
We remained on the surface and went 
rushing on like the very devil! Ah! 
for how much we have to thank our 
engines. When we reached Baltimore, 
after our long arduous trip they were 
still in the best of condition. Not a 
single repair was necessary and we 
might have started on the return trip 
at once without overhauling. Nor must 
it be forgotten that our engines were 
forced to work under the most extraor- 
dinary conditions, conditions such as 
those resulting from the dreadful tem- 
perature in the Gulf Stream which 
made the most unexpected demands 
upon the entire materiel. It may be 
calmly asserted that never before have 
oil motors had to undergo a working 
test under an outer temperature of 
53° Celsius. These things, of course, 

[192] 




© Int. Press Exchange 

Captain KoNig and Dr. Alfred Lohmann, Presi- 
dent of the German Ocean Navigation Co., 
Leaving Reception Given Captain 
K(")\k; i.\ Bremen 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

could not be foreseen when our spe- 
cial type of engine was built, and that 
they never once went on strike, nor 
developed the slightest engine trou- 
ble, constitutes the most perfect proof 
of their magnificent construction and 
material. 

So we went plunging along, and all 
too soon we once more found ourselves 
in the hot, humid atmosphere and turbid 
air of the Gulf Stream. We were once 
more in the thick of its beautiful char- 
acteristics and the accompanying phe- 
nomena. We were once more treated to 
sultry dampness and electrically laden 
air, to an excited sea, to battened-down 
hatches and infernal heat. And the old 
Stream did not even consent to shove 
us, as we certainly had the right to 
expect. 

But all these hardships we bore with 

13 [ 193 ] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

a cheerful spirit, for the danger-zone 
lay behind us and we were homeward 
bound. The high seas also dwindled 
away the closer we approached the lim- 
its of the Gulf Stream. 

On the evening of the second day 
it already became possible to open all 
the hatches on the deck, but we had 
hardly begun to enjoy the fresh, pure 
air which was to make our stay beneath 
decks endurable, than there came the 
sudden command: " Cover hatches and 
dive!" 

A steamer had come up and had ap- 
proached us so closely and along the 
lines of our own course that we were 
no longer able to evade it above water. 

When we climbed to the surface an 
hour later, the night had come, and we 
experienced a most marvellous natural 
phenomena, a sea-illumination of 

[194] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

daemonian unreality. We had gone 
down into the depths during a quiet 
sea and in dark water, but on rising 
we emerged in a sea of flame. A phos- 
phorescent glow now possessed the sea, 
of an intensity and radiance such as 
I had never before experienced in all 
my life; and such as is possible only 
upon the outer confines of the Gulf 
Stream. 

When we were still some four yards 
under the surface, during our ascent, 
it seemed as if we were working up 
through an incandescent medium of 
luminous transparency. Shortly be- 
fore the turret emerged from the water, 
I had cast a glance aft, and seen the 
entire body of the ship, from the stern 
on, slipping like a great dark shuttle 
through this flaming element. The 
screws cast up whirlpools of flame, 

[195] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

and the entire movement of the vessel 
roused the surrounding waters to a 
still fiercer phosphorescence, an intens- 
ive flaming-up and a darting of sparks 
and strips of fire. 

A fresh breeze had set in. It flung 
the ecstatic waters in luminous sphe- 
roids, and a coruscating rain across the 
entire deck. Wherever the eye rested 
upon the surface of the sea it saw 
nothing but a tossing world of lambent 
waves, through which our vessel 
ploughed a fiery furrow. 

We stood as if under the ban of 
wizardry. The magic splendor of the 
vision increased as the wind and the 
sea grew stronger. 

All the men not on duty came up 
and stared at the fairy spectacle, 
taking no notice of the seas which 
already had begun to sweep over the 

1. 196 1 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

deck. Many of them were soaked to 
the skin. 

"Fire it may be, but it puts out a 
man's pipe," remarked our gigantic 
boatswain, Humke. A spurt of brine 
had extinguished his pipe for the third 
time, so that he now determined to pro- 
tect his beloved cutty by stowing it in 
his pocket. 

The "fire" grew wetter and wetter, 
and in another half hour only the 
officer of the watch and the lookout 
remained on the turret. 

After we had left the Gulf Stream, 
we encountered a stiff northwester 
and a heavy sea until we once more 
ran into fair weather. On one of 
these evenings, First Officer Krapohl 
was standing watch with Humke upon 
the turret, and ceaselessly sweeping 
the horizon with the glass. The paling 

[197] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

heavens had already merged into the 
dusky reaches of the sea. 

" Light ahead!" Humke suddenly 
announced. 

"I've already seen that star myself," 
remarked the officer quietly, letting the 
glass sink. 

"Well, I dunno, Herr Krapohl, but 
that ain't no star," replied our good 
sailorman. 

The two thereupon reported to me, 
and I ascended the turret, full of ex- 
pectation. I took the glass, looked, 
and then laughed. 

" Humke, you are mistaken." 

For, fairly high above the horizon, 
I saw a faint, white light which, 
had it belonged to a ship, would 
already have stood too high above the 
sea-level, judging by its degree of 
luminosity. 

[198] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

Our boatswain, however, insisted 
upon his own opinion. 

"Beggin' your pardon, Cap'n, it 
ain't a star." 

I handed the glass to Humke, but 
he at once put it down again, and re- 
marked : 

"A man can't see well with them 
there things." 

He then contracted his brows, sent 
another piercing glance toward the 
light, and said, with deep conviction: 

"All the same, it ain't a star, it's a 
light." 

We kept the thing under very sharp 
observation. At length I began to see 
through the glass a red glow growing 
visible beside the white light. We now 
knew that a steamer was coming 
toward us. 

I at first took it to be a small ves- 

[199] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

sel, the more so as at first the height 
of the two lights was not greatly dif- 
ferentiated — that is to say, the red 
portlight of the steamer was hung not 
very far below the white light. Soon 
after, however, I was surprised to see 
how quickly the red light ranged out- 
ward, or rather how quickly the inter- 
val of space between the two lights 
appeared to increase. 

There was only one conclusion pos- 
sible — the vessel was approaching us 
at a most extraordinary speed. 

While I was still deliberating over 
this point, and already thinking of a 
swift destroyer, I discovered, at a com- 
paratively great distance, behind the 
two lights, something that looked like 
a white, moving glow, or a feebly illu- 
minated wave. 

We were unable to make out what 

[ 200 ] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

this might mean. It was obvious that 
this wave must belong to the lights, 
for it came on at the same speed. And 
we were right, for it did not take long 
before we saw trembling in the glass 
like some dim foreboding the gigantic 
outlines of a huge steamer, which, with 
mighty upper works, came rushing 
on through the darkness. The white 
glow was merely its wake which, true 
to the colossal proportions of the 
ship, became visible only at a con- 
siderable distance from the ship's lan- 
terns. 

We kept staring for a few moments 
longer and discovered four towering 
smoke-stacks. We were now certain 
that this was a large Cunarder, which 
was roaring along with masked lights, 
merely carrying a top-light and the 
side-lights. 

[201] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

It was really a most spectral appa- 
rition. The dark and powerful vessel 
went chasing on through the night, and 
it was not necessary to be particu- 
larly romantic in order to think of 
the Flying Dutchman. Our good 
Humke expressed his feelings in the 
words : 

"My, what a buster I" 

"Full speed ahead and rudder hard 
to starboard." 

We thus left the course of the proud 
Cunarder. All the men of the off-watch 
came up on deck in order to have a 
peep at the spectacle. 

In spite of the most vigilant look- 
out, we saw absolutely nothing during 
the next few days. The weather like- 
wise remained fair, and so our return 
home, even more than our outward 
voyage, began to assume the character 

[202] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

of a peaceful, uneventful mercantile 
voyage. 

We now seemed for the first time to 
be able to enjoy the convenient and 
practical inner arrangement of the 
boat, the cabins, and our cheerful little 
mess-room. How often, as we sat about 
the table in the mess-room and set the 
gramophone going, did we feel a sud- 
den gratitude toward the men who had 
not only given the ship her seaworthy 
form, but also devised all the many 
little conveniences which permitted us 
to lead a quite tolerable life even be- 
low the levels of the sea. 

When our worthy and flaxen-haired 
steward, Stucke, always with the same 
solemn expression upon his honest 
face, always looking a little astonished, 
would place a bottle of Californian 
claret before us, while we were lying 

[203] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

" somewhere" along the bottom of the 
sea, with a vigorous Channel wind 
blowing many meters over our heads- 
strange thoughts were ours. It re- 
quired no particular fantasy to imag- 
ine ourselves the successors of Captain 
Nemo, who, in an extremely modern 
Nautilus were able to descend to all 
depths and to deliver a stinging blow 
against the injustice and rank arro- 
gance of a certain people — provided, 
of course, that one had read Jules 
Verne. 

For I must at last make a confes- 
sion, something which, up to now, I 
had kept locked as a fearful secret in 
my breast. It was only as the com- 
mander of a submarine merchant ves- 
sel, upon my return from America, 
that I was able to make good a serious 
deficiency in my education. That which 

[204] 



Voyage of the Deutscliland 

I had neglected in my youth I was 
able to take up only now at the age of 
49 years. For the first time, in the 
hull of the TJ -Deutscliland it was de- 
creed that I make myself acquainted 
with Jules Verne. 

It was due to the courtesy and at- 
tentiveness of an American friend that 
I had at Baltimore become the recip- 
ient of a book; a book — how shall I 
express myself? — intended as a spur 
to incentive, to emulation. The book 
bore the title: 

" Twenty Thousand Leagues Under 
the Sea. For Young People." 

I read it with interest. 



The other events that transpired 
upon our homeward voyage are soon 
told. We proceeded calmly and peace- 
fully upon our way. We evaded sev- 

[205] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

eral steamers at a greater distance, by 
making a detour upon the surface, 
which gradually made us experts in 
this matter. The weather was, for the 
most part, good. Once there was fog 
and a smooth sea. 

One afternoon, as I sat at the desk 
in my cabin in order to work, I heard 
from the neighboring central a com- 
mand given by the helmsman. It was 
"Starboard, 20," and was repeated. 
Immediately afterwards came the com- 
mand: "Port, 10," which induced me 
to hurry on deck before I received the 
report of the officer on watch. 

Here a singular spectacle presented 
itself. Everywhere, as far as the eye 
could reach, the sea was covered with 
a field of black oil-barrels, through 
which we were forced to worm our 
way. 

[206] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

The first glimpse of these black and 
eerie things, bobbing up and down upon 
the waves, made one think of a mine- 
field, but the characteristic form of the 
barrels and their contents, which had 
partly distributed itself over the water, 
gave ample testimony of their harmless- 
ness. We were, nevertheless, obliged 
to exercise considerable caution in 
steering through this remarkable plan- 
tation, but the field was too vast 
for us to avoid without a consider- 
able loss of time. The number of 
barrels which came within the circle 
of our vision we estimated as at least 
1,000. 

"This is fine practice," exclaimed 
Krapohl, "for the elegant movements 
we shall be obliged to make later, when 
we go snaking our way through the 
English mine-fields. I think we might 

[207] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

risk the return passage through the 
English Channel." 

So we went zigzagging on at half 
speed to port, then to starboard, then 
to port, for over an hour. We also saw 
wrack from a ship, so that we assumed 
that some steamer had met with a dis- 
aster or been blown up. 

We now approached once more the 
sphere of the English patrol-boats. 
The lookouts were doubled and all 
hands stood at the diving-stations. 
Now and again we saw vessels whose 
vigilance we escaped by diving or a 
change of course. One war vessel, ap- 
parently a small English cruiser, we 
cheated out of the possibility of even 
seeing us by a swift dive. After pro- 
ceeding under water for an hour, we 
once more rose toward the surface, 
only to have the periscope reveal to us 

[208] 




Celebration at City Hall, Bremen, 
August 25, 1916 

in fronl numbered many thousands. The officer 
on the balcony, acknowledging cheers 



and crew 




© L. I. Z 



Portrait of Officers and Crew of the 
" Deutschland " 

Taken on their arrival, at the mouth of the Weser, 
August 2::. 1916 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

while- still at a depth of 11 meters 
another English ship. We at once 
sank to 20 meters, and this game of 
hide and seek was repeated three times 
in succession. 

Toward noon we climbed to the top 
for good, blew out the tanks and forged 
ahead at full speed. 

Favored by good weather, we rap- 
idly approached our goal. On an 
evening in August, about 8 o'clock, 
we saw a whole circle of white lights 
surrounding the entire horizon. 

I naturally began to fear that we 
were surrounded. When we turned to 
starboard, we saw these infernal lights. 
When we turned to port, they also 
popped up there. 

However, our good Zeiss glasses 
soon relieved us of the anxiety of fall- 
ing into a trap at the last moment, 

14 [ 209 ] 



Voyage of the Deatsehland 

almost in view of home. The twilight 
was still sufficiently clear to enable us 
to see by the outlines of these sinister 
vessels that they were in reality noth- 
ing more deadly than Dutch herring 
loggers. 



[210] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 



XIV 

HOME AGAIN 

A favorable following wind drove 
along with us toward home. About 
six o'clock one August morning, there 
was once more an alarm. In the far- 
off distance, something had popped up, 
something which looked like a boat's 
sail of a most remarkable form. On 
approaching closer, this sail revealed 
itself as the turret of a U-boat, which, 
with flooded decks, was churning along 
its way. 

Although we were at first inclined 
to make various edifying and instruc- 
tive remarks with regard to this pe- 
culiar image which presented itself to 
us from the distance, and to expatiate 

[211] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

upon our own appearance at three 
nautical miles, there was nevertheless 
something else of far greater moment 
for us to consider. The question for 
us was — was this an English or a Ger- 
man submarine? 

We preferred, however, in order to 
make sure of all eventualities, to show 
as little of ourselves as possible, and 
to scuttle away beneath at the last 
moment. 

We had already flooded all tanks 
except No. 3, and the seas were 
flinging across the decks and splashing 
against the turret, and the turret itself 
was already cutting into the green 
waters, when a well-known signal was 
hoisted by the submarine and we were 
reassured of its being German. We at 
once sent our answer. 

And then the command rang out : 

[212] 



Voyage of the Deutscliland 

" Exhaust with air blast!" 

I had never given an order upon the 
Deutscliland with a more joyous heart. 
And never was an order more joyously 
carried out after I had shouted down 
into the central: " Hurrah, the first 
German submarine's in sight!" 

What did it matter that we stood 
upon the turret, still awash with oil 
and sea-water, or that the spray shot 
over us — what did it matter? There, 
across the North Sea, the first greet- 
ing of Germany, of our great Father- 
land, came rushing on. We forged 
ahead at full speed. All hands were 
on deck, and in a short time both ves- 
sels lay within calling distance of each 
other. 

The first deafening hurrahs came 
roaring over to us, and we answered 
them with equal power. 

[213] 



Voyage of the Beutschland 

Then we exchanged greetings and 
news, after which our paths once more 
separated — we toward home — TJ-X to 
its work. 

The day drew to its close and the 
night came down once more. 

So we swept onward, without a light 
on deck, without a light in the turret, 
like some dark phantom. 

Then, on the following morning, as 
the sun arose, we saw before us in the 
distance an unmistakable silhouette 
which glimmered redly through the 
veils of mist. It was an island, a bul- 
wark in the North Sea. Heligoland 
lay before us. 

Things soon began to grow lively 
upon the waters. Torpedo-boats came 
rushing up, vanguard patrols puffed 
along, flag signals flew into the air, the 
wireless crackled. Everywhere mes- 

[214] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

sages and greetings came flying toward 
us, and then the iron ring of the Ger- 
man fleet which holds its trusty watch 
out there upon the seas, closed about 
our little Deutschland. Under its pro- 
tection we now steered past Heligoland 
toward our own home port. While we 
were already approaching the well- 
known waters, and before the low 
sandy stretches of the home coast came 
into view, we were treated to a spec- 
tacle of overwhelming magnificence — 
a greeting such as had never been on 
land or sea — and carried out with the 
most amazing dash. 

We saw two immense birds lift 
themselves from the land. They were 
two hydroplanes, which came on at ter- 
rific speed and then alighted like two 
gigantic water-fowl upon the lightly 
heaving swell. They then shot, slightly 

[215] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

skimming the surface of the sea with 
their floats, to within a stone's throw 
of the Deutschland. Here they made a 
lightning turn and came rattling past 
us, turned again and then literally 
hopped over us, roaring close above 
our turret with a shouting of hurrahs 
and a swinging of caps. . . . 

Such was our reception by the 
3 r oungest arm of the German Navy. 

Comparisons are odious. 

But as we once more neared the Ger- 
man coast, and felt ourselves sur- 
rounded by the protecting arm of the 
German navy, it was impossible for 
me to help comparing this with our 
arrival in America. 

Surely no ona could have been re- 
ceived more heartily nor with greater 
enthusiasm than we had been by the 
Americans. An easygoing and care- 

[ 216 ] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

free people had taken pleasure in a 
daring, adventurous act, and had ex- 
pressed its sympathy for an enterprise 
that was novel and unheard-of, and 
which called for men. 

But here we were more than daring 
and successful adventurers. Here our 
own people once more took us to their 
hearts as peaceful combatants in their 
glorious struggle. Here was revealed 
to us the inspiring vision of their 
power beneath the sea, upon the sea, 
and in the air. This was to me the 
significance of that splendid greeting 
given us by the airmen. This is what 
I felt when we were convoyed by the 
patrol boats to the estuary of the 
Weser, where we cast anchor before 
the Hohen Weg lighthouse — once more 
in German ground. 

[217] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 



XV 

HOW GERMANY WELCOMED 
US BACK 

From the roads of Heligoland to the 
estuary of the Weser we had been wel- 
comed by the navy, but on the voyage 
up the Weser, and in Bremen, we were 
welcomed by an entire people. 

On the afternoon of August 23d the 
Deutschland had cast anchor at the 
Weser 's mouth. The wires had at 
once spread the tidings through the 
entire German Empire, the longed-for 
tidings which awakened such un- 
bounded joy. 

We were surprised and proud to 
learn that the arrival of the Deutsch- 
land had been made the occasion of a 

[ 218 ] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

festal day for the entire German peo- 
ple, and that a reception was preparing 
for our little boat along the banks of 
the Weser such as had seldom fallen 
to the lot of a fortunate ship. Our 
journey up the Weser shaped itself 
to a triumphal progress beyond all 
comparison. Behind the hundreds of 
thousands who had come to cheer us 
from the banks of the river stood in- 
visible millions of the German people, 
all imbued with the same emotion. 

This expressed itself everywhere in 
exuberant manifestations of joy and 
pride, by old and young, by high and 
low — from the German Kaiser to the 
humblest dock-laborer and the tiniest 
cabin-boy who waved his little flag in 
Bremen and shouted out of sheer de- 
light. 

Among all the expressions of ecstatic 

[219] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

joy with which we were deluged, I was 
particularly moved by one — a stirring 
poem which was sent to me by Hans 
Dowidat, Chief Stoker aboard the 
Posen, the day after our arrival : 

"U-DEUTSCHLAND" 

Das war em Jubel von Ohr zu Ohr, 
Ein deutsches U-Boot in Baltimore, 
Ein deutsches U-Boot gefahrumstellt, 
Tragt deutsche Waren von Welt zn "Welt ! 
Und wie auch der Brite die Tat verdreht 
Und wie sie alle geflucht und geschniaht ; 
Stolz flatterte dennoch die Flagge empor 
Am deutschen U-Boot in Baltimore ! 



>> 



1 1 Good day, Kaptan, woher die Fahrt ? ' ' 
"Wir kommen von Bremen, sind deutsche Art 
"Von Deutschland! Well, das nenn' ich kiihn, 
Ja, liess euch der Brite denn ruhig ziehn ! ' ' 
"Was kehrt uns Franzen- und Britenlug? 
Wir fahren, wo Wasser um unseren Bug, 
Wir fahren, wo Wasser um unser Deck 
Und wissen von keinem Britenschreck ! 

[220] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 



Doch ist es dir recht, so machen wir, 
Freund Yankee, jetzt ein Geschaft mit dir. 
Wir bringen so manches, was Uncle Sam 
Sehon lange nicht mehr in sein Land beldam." 
"Well, das ist gut, ich sage yes; 
Denn business bleibt business ! ' ' 

Da hub sich geschaftiges Leben am Kai, 
Gewichtige Krane rollten herbei, 
Die schrien und kreischten und summten dumpf , 
Die tauchten hinein in des Schiffes Rumpf 
Und hoben die Werte, die deutscbe Hand, 
tiber — und unter das Meer gesandt. 
Das war ein Larmen, das war ein Klang 
In Bunker und Zelle, in Last und Tank, 
Und draussen das Volk von Amerika, 
Staunend das deutsche Wunder sah ! — 

Leer die Bunker und leer die Last, 

Wieder hebt sich larmende Hast, 

Doch der Kran, der nun in das Boot sich taucht, 

Tragt fremde Waren, die Deutschland braucht ! — 

So sehafften die Deutschen in Baltimore — 
Franzosen, Russen und Briten im Chor 
Schwuren mit einem grasslichen Schwur 
Niemals lenkt heimwarts das Boot die Spur, 



[221] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 



"Wo wir es treffen im Meeresrund, 
Muss es mit Mann und Maus anf den Grand!" 
Sie haben den Hafen mit Schiffen umsaumt, 
Sie haben von kostlichem Fange getraumt, 
Sie haben geharrt und haben gewacht, 
Sie haben gelauert bei Tag und Nacht 
Und hatten nur eins, nur eins im Sinn, 
Die "Deutschland" darf nicht nach Deutsch- 
land hin ! 

Es ging die Zeit, und es kam der Tag, 
Da klar zur Reise * * U-Deutschland " lag. 
Und wie die Hebel auf "Fahrt" gestellt, 
Da lauschte mit stockendem Atem die Welt! 
All unsre Feinde in West and Ost, 
Sie harrten nur einer, nur einer Post : 
"Das Boot, das uns so sehr gekrankt, 
Liegt auf dem Meeresgrund versenkt!" 

Doch die "Deutschland" fuhr und all ihr 

Geschrei, 
All ihre Schwiire verflogen wie Spreu. 
Die "Deutschland" fuhr, und keine Gewalt 
Bot ihrem ruhmreiehen Wege halt ! 
Wohl ging noch oftmals die Sonne auf, 
Es riehten sieh Tage zum Wochenlauf. 
Frug mancher sorgend im deutschen Land : 
Wann endlich kehrt sie zum Heimatstrand % 



[222] 



Voyage of the Deutscliland 

Und nun kam der Tag, und nun fliegt das Wort 
Durch hundert Millionen Kehlen fort, 
Das Wort, das nimmer verklingt und verjahrt: 
" 'U-Deutschland,' 'U-Deutschland' ist heimge- 
kehrt! ,, 

Hans Dowidat, 
Oberheizer auf S. M. S. "Posen." 
Wohnschiff "Agir." 

Early on the morning of August 25th 
the Deutscliland began her pageant- 
like progress up the Weser. The rain 
came down in streams, but nothing 
was able to disturb the general air of 
jubilation as we went on our way, ac- 
companied by a convoy of steamers, 
and our masts and turret decorated 
with flowers. Toward 8 o'clock in the 
morning we arrived in the roadstead 
of Bremerhaven. 

Dun-colored clouds hung low in the 
skies and let fall their heavy showers 
upon the thousands who stood along 

[223] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

the dykes or came to meet us on steam- 
ers, lighters, launches and in row- 
boats. 

Thunderous hurrahs came echoing 
to us from the city, and the chime of 
bells mingled with these shouts and 
cheers. But high over everything else 
we heard the strains of the song 
' ' Deutschland, Deutschland iiber Alles. ' ' 
That song was precisely 75 years old 
upon this day. 

We took a Weser pilot aboard and 
continued on our way. In Norden- 
ham, Brake and Blumenthal we were 
greeted with flags, with crashing sal- 
voes of guns — factories and steam 
sirens sent up their roaring salutes. 
The Lloyd steamers bid us welcome 
and flag-wagged us their felicitations 
for which we thanked them in like 
fashion. We passed Vegesack. The 

[224] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

work at the Vulcan Docks was stand- 
ing still, and hundreds of workmen 
crowded the quays. Their thunderous 
hurrahs greeted us, and from now on 
our advance became more and more 
triumphal. The population of Vege- 
sack stood assembled along the piers 
and the river banks. Here too, there 
was music and song, a thunder of guns 
and a storm of cheers. The ranks grew 
steadily denser the nearer the ship ap- 
proached its home haven. Shortly be- 
fore noon we reached Lankenau, whose 
lagoon seemed crowded with all the 
inhabitants of Bremen, who seemed to 
have chosen it as a coign of vantage. 
We saw the people, a veritable sea of 
heads, waving their hats, umbrellas 
and handkerchiefs. The spectacle was 
simply indescribable, this apparently 
endless multitude, these thousands 

15 [ 225 ] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

upon thousands, like a black and liv- 
ing sea across which there passed a 
tidal motion of waving umbrellas, glim- 
mering white muslin and hands, hands, 
hands. . . . 

Precisely at noon the Deutschland 
entered the free harbor and made fast 
to the pier, which was decorated in 
festal manner. 

Here the Grand Duke of Oldenburg, 
Representatives of the Senate, and the 
citizens, and of the military and civic 
authorities — among them Count Zeppe- 
lin — were assembled to receive us. 

As soon as the ship was made fast, 
I ordered the crew on deck. Herr 
Alfred Lohmann, the founder and 
president of the Deutsche Reederei 
Gesellschaft, greeted us as follows: 

"Your Highness! Your Magnifi- 
cence! Your Excellencies! Gentle- 

[226] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

men ! At this historical moment, which 
marks the return of the world's first 
submarine, after covering 8,500 nauti- 
cal miles, I welcome to their home 
haven our Deutschland and her gallant 
crew. I welcome them, not only in the 
name of our Company, but in the name 
of the entire German nation. 

"She stole out of the Weser, her 
existence known only to a trusted few, 
she crept through and underneath the 
English fleet, and on the 10th of July 
she brought her valuable cargo of dye- 
stuffs safe into Baltimore. Her arrival 
was a surprise to the w T hole world. 
Only a short time before her appear- 
ance even shipping experts had pro- 
nounced such an undertaking to be im- 
possible. 

"It was particularly agreeable to me 
to be assured of the warm interest and 

[227] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

satisfaction with which the Deutsch- 
land's arrival in America was greeted 
by all true Americans — that is to say, 
by all Americans possessed of the free 
spirit of Washington and Franklin, all 
whose judgment had not been warped 
by subservience to the English mam- 
mon. 

"Our Company takes pride in the 
thought that it has succeeded, in the 
very midst of war, in sending dye- 
stuffs to America under the German 
flag. America herself, on the contrary, 
is not even able to secure the immunity 
of her post from Europe. I fohall not 
mention the many other breaches of 
international and naval law committed 
against the neutrals, and especially the 
smaller nations, by our enemies. 

"Yes, the crew of the Deutschland 
have done a great work. If the ship 

[228] 



Voyage of the BeutscMand 

gave no warning of her setting-out, 
none the less her departure from Balti- 
more was openly announced. 'It was 
like a triumphal procession,' wrote 
Havas. 'It was a symbol of freedom/ 
we Germans think, dreaming of the 
'Right of the Nations to the Freedom 
of the Seas.' 

"Our enemies could not hinder the 
Deutschland's departure from Chesa- 
peake Bay, and a blockade of the 
North Sea did not exist for her. The 
goods which lie before us at this mo- 
ment, goods worth many millions of 
marks, all brought from America by 
the Deutschland, are sufficient proof of 
that. 

"The officers and crew have per- 
formed a feat of seamanship which is 
worthy of our Hanseatic forefathers! 
The news of the return of the Deutsch- 

[229] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

land has been received with the live- 
liest joy in all the states of the German 
Empire, and in the countries of our 
faithful allies. But especially deep is 
the feeling of our brothers out in the 
trenches and in the Navy. 

"The Company has awaited this re- 
turn with an absolute confidence in the 
ability, the foresight and the sense of 
duty of the Deutschland' s crew. After 
these trying weeks of close confinement 
to this little ship, always face to face 
with ruthless enemies, I bid them all 
a hearty welcome home. 

"And I give expression to the grati- 
tude we feel by calling for three cheers 
for the Deutschland, her Commander, 
Captain Konig, the officers and the 
crew! Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" 

I answered with a short: "Long live 
the Senate and the citizenry of the 

[230] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

Free Hansa City of Bremen" — lustily 
supported by my men. 

Patriotic airs came to us from a 
neighboring Lloyd steamer, the Frank- 
furt — after which we went on land and 
were presented one after the other to 
the guests of honor. The reception was 
simple and dignified, and therefore the 
more edifying. 

After overcoming a distance of some 
8,450 nautical miles, of which not more 
than 190 were covered under water, the 
first of all merchant submarines had 
come back to its native port. The 
TJ-Deutschland's voyage to America 
was over. 



On the evening of this memorable 
day, a big state banquet took place in 
the old Eathaus at Bremen. It was 

[231] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

given by the Senate of the City in 
celebration of the return of the 
Deutschland. The speeches made upon 
this occasion give a brief outline of 
the circumstances which led to the 
building of the Deutschland. It will 
therefore prove interesting to quote 
them here. 

Burgomaster Dr. Barkhausen had 
bidden the guests welcome with hospi- 
table words, had communicated a reso- 
lution of the Senate to the effect that 
a special medal was to be struck in 
commemoration of this day, and had 
toasted the Deutsche Ocean Reederei 
and the crew of the Deutschland. 

In the name of the Reederei, or 
Shipowners, their President, Dr. A. 
Lohmann, now replied as follows: 

"Your Magnificence, your Excellen- 
cies, gentlemen! In the name of the 

[232] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

Commander of the Deutschland y Cap- 
tain Konig, and his officers and crew, 
I express profound thanks to the high 
Senate, adding to them those of our 
Company, for the high honor which 
the Senate has bestowed upon the crew 
of the Deutschland, by means of the 
medal which is to serve as a memento 
of this peaceful achievement of com- 
merce in the midst of war. For the 
appreciative words regarding the ac- 
tivities of my co-workers and myself, 
I express my deepest thanks to your 
Magnificence. Since the beginning of 
the war, I have gladly and willingly 
devoted my activities to the welfare of 
the State. The conviction that our 
splendid people, despite the over- 
whelming forces of their enemies, were 
not to be conquered in this war which 
they are waging for the sake of their 

[233] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

national independence and freedom, 
the conviction that the spiritual forces 
and the trust which animates our en- 
tire people, that the thorough training 
undergone since the Wars of Libera- 
tion, and the natural devotion of duty 
which has been inherited by every Ger- 
man, could never be overborne, has 
been the guiding motive in all my 
work. And everywhere did I find 
trusting fellow workers who thought as 
I did. 

"I therefore wish to express my 
thanks to all these collaborators of 
mine. My special gratitude is due to 
Director Stapelfeldt and to my col- 
league, Director-General Heineken and 
Commercial Councillor Herrmann. 

"The Deutsche Ocean Eeederei, as 
already alluded to by Tour Magnifi- 
cence, was founded in all secrecy. Its 

[234] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

task was to lie entirely in the trans- 
portation of goods of the highest value. 
It was necessary to purchase the raw 
materials in America with the utmost 
caution, to store them safely, to secure 
a safe anchorage for the Deutschland, 
and protect her from all attacks. This 
was done in the most admirable way by 
Mr. Paul G. L. Hilken and his father, as 
well as Captain Hinsch and his assist- 
ants. The part played by Captain 
Konig, his officers and crew, in this 
project, has already been conveyed to 
your Magnificence. I, for my part, 
speaking in the name of the Company, 
once more wish to express my thanks 
to my co-workers upon the Deutsch- 
land. It will interest you, gentlemen, 
to learn something concerning the his- 
tory of the Deutsche Ocean Eeederei, 
and of the evolution of the Deutsch- 

[235] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

land, the Bremen, and their still un- 
named sister ship. 

"When, in September, 1915, it 
became clear that, in spite of all the 
successes of the Central Powers, the 
war would very likely last for months 
longer, it became apparent that the 
question of supplying Germany with 
rubber and metals might become a 
burning one. I therefore consulted 
with the 'Weser' stock company, after 
having had an interview with a promi- 
nent expert in shipbuilding. The 
'Weser' Company expressed itself as 
ready to draw up plans for a subma- 
rine of about 500 tons capacity. These 
plans were delivered to me on the 3rd 
of October; a period of building was 
estimated at eleven months — deliver- 
able on the 1st of September, 1916, 
since the motors would first have to be 

[236] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

built. It was apparent that we should 
have to make an effort to attain our 
goal somewhat earlier. Almost simul- 
taneously, and without our knowledge, 
the Germania Docks of Kiel sub- 
mitted to their parent house, the Fred- 
erick Krupp Co., plans for the con- 
struction of a submarine of some 700 
tons freight capacity — this about the 
beginning of October. 

"The Germania yard wished to de- 
liver the first boat in the short time of 
six months — that is to say, in April. 
Both these plans expressed absolute 
assurance in the feasibility of the idea. 
I would like to compare this conjunc- 
tion with a happy marriage, in which 
the same thought animates the man 
and the woman. The docks were the 
mother which gave birth to the child; 
the father was the company, which was 

[237] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

to lead the child forth into the world. 
The soul and spirit of this infant en- 
terprise were evidenced through our 
Captain, his officers and crew, who 
have fulfilled this splendid achieve- 
ment of taking the Deutschland to 
America and back. 

"On the 15th of October, we came to 
terms, and the two boats were given by 
the Syndicate to the Germania docks 
to build. The Deutschland was deliv- 
ered at the beginning of April. It is 
a brilliant masterpiece of the Ger- 
mania docks and, as we are accustomed 
to expect in all work that bears the 
name of Frederick Krupp, perfect in 
its execution. Captain Konig was able 
to report from America that all was in 
perfect order after his 4,000-mile trip. 
The same applies to his report made 
upon his arrival at Bremen. 

[238] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

"This co-operation between spirit 
and force, this utilization of all the 
new and scientific inventions, as well 
as an elevated sense of duty are the 
factors that have made the Germania 
Docks great. To-day when the Deutsch- 
land has returned to us, we stand face 
to face with a new achievement in the 
art of shipbuilding, and for this, too, 
the German people give thanks to this 
enterprise. I trust that you will give 
expression to this feeling by three 
cheers in honor of the Germania 
Docks." 



After the next course, Director Zetz- 
mann, of the Germania Docks, made 
the following speech: 

"Your Magnificence, your Excellen- 
cies, gentlemen! I have the honor to 
express my heartiest thanks to the 

[239] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

Senate — in the name of the Gerraania 
Docks — for the privilege of participat- 
ing in this festival. I also wish to ex- 
press my thanks to my predecessor, 
Dr. Alfred Lohmann, for the kind 
things he has said of my firm, in whose 
name I thank him. Herr Lohmann has 
told you many interesting things re- 
garding the evolution of his company. 
Permit me to give you a few facts 
from the workshops in which the 
Deutschland and the Bremen origi- 
nated. It was not easy to come to the 
conclusion to undertake the building 
of such a boat, not because we feared 
the mechanical difficulties, but because 
we scarcely ventured to risk tasking 
our construction bureaus still further, 
burdened as they already were with 
war contracts. 

"We at first proceeded to work along 

[240] 



Voyage of the DeutscJiland 

the models of the war submarines, 
thinking this would lessen the labor of 
construction. We discovered, however, 
that this did not lead to the desired 
results as far as cargo capacity and 
storage room were concerned. We had 
to proceed on more radical lines — not 
to develop a freighter from a cruiser — 
but to create a new type of freighter. 
"Our constructors now went to work 
with a fiery enthusiasm, and the plans 
were soon ready. . . . Herr Krupp 
von Bohlen declared that a boat of 
this type could be built and should be 
built in the shortest possible time, so 
the Germania Docks were ordered to 
begin work at once. There were, of 
course, various inevitable dela}^s. 
About the middle of October, 1915, we 
first came in touch with Dr. Alfred 
Lohmann. From that meeting resulted 

16 [ 241 ] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

the marriage which he has described — 
war-nuptials as swift as any that the 
present time has produced. I have but 
one more thing to say — if we were able 
to complete this boat in so short a time, 
it is owing, not only to the head firm, 
but to all sub-contractors as well. 
Builders, owners and crews of the 
ships, all worked harmoniously to- 
gether. The trial trips went off 
smoothly. We saw the ship set out 
upon her trial voyage with the greatest 
confidence. Our faith has been glori- 
ously justified. May many such suc- 
cessful voyages be carried out by the 
Deutschland and her sister ships for 
the welfare of our beloved Fatherland 
and the fame of the venerable Hansa 
city of Bremen! 

" To-day's festival will remain a life- 
long memory to all who have taken 

[242] 



Voyage of the DeutscMand 

part in it. . . . When the new portion 
of the Rathaus has become as vener- 
able as the old, men will relate to each 
other that the lucky voyage of the first 
merchant submarine in the world was 
celebrated within these walls. ..." 



There had been no announcement of 
a public celebration in the market- 
place, but in the evening, the crowd, 
following its own instinct, streamed 
toward this center. People of all 
classes were represented, and when the 
Bremen military band took up a posi- 
tion on the steps of the Exchange and 
began to play the place was quite full. 

A more charming celebration could 
not be imagined than that which now 
began. The patriotic feelings of the 
multitude continually reached a pitch 
where they could only find relief in 

[243] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

song. Here and there a voice would 
strike up and at once the whole assem- 
bly would fall in. 

Again and again the cries rang 
forth: "Lohmann! Zeppelin! Konig!" 
So that we were obliged to obey the 
voice of the people, and stepped out on 
the balcony with the crew. 

"We were met with a hurricane of 
cheers. The multitude joined in the 
toast to the Kaiser which I proposed. 
To the joy of all, Count Zeppelin took 
up the word and spoke in short, power- 
ful sentences, audible for a long dis- 
tance. In a voice as clear as that of 
a young man, he said : 

" Deutschland, Deutschland iiber 
alles! Three cheers for Bremen and 
her sons! What shall I say to you? 
When one sees the feeling which ani- 
mates the German people, one cannot 

[244] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

doubt that the victory will be ours! 
Hurrah!" 

These words called forth unbounded 
rejoicing, as well as those which I 
spoke in full confidence: 

"We got through! — we always get 
through! It is our duty to conquer 
the English with our U-boats and to 
hold out." 

In answer to the universal demand, 
Dr. Lohmann himself finally stepped 
to the railing of the balcony and de- 
voted a few pithy words to the ser- 
vices rendered by Count Zeppelin — 
and your humble servant. 

After Dr. Lohmann 's speech, the 
band played the hymn of thanksgiving, 
"Wir treten mit Beten vor Gott den 
Gerechten" (To the God of Justice 
we offer our prayers), which was sung 
by everybody. 

[245] 



Voyage of the Deatschland 

Meanwhile, darkness had fallen, and 
in the glow of the electric lights, the 
market place, as seen from the old 
Rathaus, itself streaming with light, 
presented a wonderful spectacle. No 
one wanted to bring this delightful 
celebration to an end. The singing 
continued indef atigably. Then Burgo- 
master Dr. Barkhausen, the President 
of the Senate, rose to speak. He said : 

"We have assembled here to ratify 
once more our determination that the 
spirit which has been with the Deutsch- 
land on her voyage, the spirit of the 
German people, the spirit which will 
lead us to victory, shall never die. As 
a fitting close to this wonderful even- 
ing, I once more cry: 'Deutschland, 
Deutschland liber alles! Long live 
Kaiser and Empire!' " 

The words were again received with 

[246] 



Voyage of the Deutschland 

enthusiasm. But the gentle hint that 
it was time to bring the festivities to 
an end went as yet unheeded. 

Once more I was forced to address 
the crowd. I made it short and sweet ; 
direct from the heart — 

* 'Good night! I am dreadfully 
tired!" 

And so ended this unforgettable day 
in the history of Germany and of 
Bremen. 



[247] 



1996 








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